PokerStars is withdrawing from China, Taiwan, and Macau.
Flutter Entertainment is closing down the PokerStars brand in China, Taiwan, and Macau as part of the company’s plan to decrease its exposure to unregulated markets after its merger with the Stars Group.
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The PokerStars brand will be shut down in China, Taiwan, and Macau by Flutter Entertainment as part of the company’s plan to decrease its exposure to unregulated markets after its merger with the Stars Group.
In announcing the company’s financial results for the first six months of 2020, Flutter stated “there are some TSG jurisdictions where [it] had previously decided that it would not operate, and in these cases, we have now closed these markets”.
The company has now taken steps to exit the Chinese, Taiwanese, and Macau markets, which do not permit online gambling. It did not reveal whether it has closed or will be closing operations in other markets.
A spokesperson for the operator explained: “As we confirmed in our interim results statement last week, we have been examining the compliance standards and market exposure of the combined group. While we have not finished the review, we have identified a number of areas where improvements are needed.”
The company representative stated that these alterations would result in a loss of approximately £65 million (€73.2 million/$86.8 million) in income. This was primarily due to the implementation of modifications to their responsible gaming and adherence protocols, along with the introduction of enhanced checks within the PokerStars enterprise.
Flutter acquired the Stars Group in October 2019 for a sum of £3.8 billion. The transaction was finalized in May of the current year following the approval of both companies’ shareholders.
In their initial six-month financial report, Flutter also declared their intention to consolidate all of their sports betting brands onto the same platform currently utilized by Paddy Power Betfair.
Flutter further disclosed that PokerStars was experiencing a deficiency in investment and that they would be allocating additional resources, particularly in the realm of marketing.
