DeFi & NFT

Story: PokerStars Opens Network to Rivals, Promising Access to 3 Million Players

By Jean-Luc Maracon

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Flutter Brands Moving First. So far, the network's growth has been internal. Betfair Poker left Playtech's iPoker network on…

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Sisal's Numbers Make the Case. PokerStars needs a proof-of-concept to sell this thing, and Sisal is it.

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The GGPoker Gap Is the Real Story. Here's the uncomfortable backdrop. PokerStars built its name as the biggest poker site on the…

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PokerStars is going outside the Flutter family. The company launched a dedicated sales site for the PokerStars Network, actively pitching its shared-player pool to third-party…

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The sales pitch is aggressive. PokerStars claims the network holds 12 licenses spanning more than 130 countries, with over 3 million registered players.

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So far, the network's growth has been internal. Betfair Poker left Playtech's iPoker network on August 13 and moved over. Paddy Power and Sky Poker are next in line. PokerStars' U.

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The iPoker network, for what it's worth, recorded just 173 active cash-game players in recent tracking data. That's a pretty stark number.

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PokerStars needs a proof-of-concept to sell this thing, and Sisal is it. Flutter bought the Italian operator in August 2022.

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Here's the uncomfortable backdrop. PokerStars built its name as the biggest poker site on the planet, launching back in 2001. For years, that dominance felt untouchable.

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Per PokerScout data, GGPoker currently runs 9,292 active cash-game players. PokerStars sits at 2,479. CoinPoker, which focuses on crypto players, has 2,285.

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See also: Bernstein Predicts $10 Trillion Prediction Markets Driven by Financial Assets by 2035

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Mike Woodbridge, PokerStars Chief Commercial Officer, pointed to inconsistent regulations across markets as a key factor.

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Flutter's second-quarter report flagged declining activity on the PokerStars global platform. That's not a minor footnote — it's the reason this network push is happening now.

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GGPoker already runs this playbook. It works with third-party operators like Olybet in the Baltics and Danske Spil in Denmark.

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David Lappin, a PokerStars ambassador, said the new setup lets companies inside the Flutter family join from regions where PokerStars doesn't directly operate.

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