PokerStars has announced the PokerStars Network (PSN) has become a fully-fledged B2B proposition, offering partners the chance to “gain access to the world’s most recognised and trusted name in the game”.
With the strapline, ‘Built for partners. Trusted by players’, third parties can either take the PokerStars brand under a franchise model or enter into a white-label arrangement. Flutter will still operate PokerStars as a B2C brand, though.
The company said in a LinkedIn post PSN was “open for business” and that management was “ready to talk to operators outside Flutter”.
The post added: “Partners can access our liquidity, centrally run games and scheduling, dedicated game integrity, and our globally renowned live and online events. The network will also provide partners the opportunity to take the PokerStars brand into their own market.”
There had been speculation of late that Flutter was plotting to go down the B2B route given the growing fragmentation of online poker liquidity pools in recent years as governments chose to ringfence players within their own borders.
The PSN will operate in different setups depending on local laws: the global dotcom pool, shared regional pools like France, Spain and Portugal, North America’s shared liquidity and single ringfenced markets such as Italy.
A B2B model has been long been operated by the world’s largest poker site GGPoker, which has ‘skins’ including the eponymous GGPoker, Natural8 and OlyBet, to name a few. Likewise, the Winning Poker Network comprises names such as ACR Poker, Black Chip Poker and PokerKing.
PokerStars, which soft-launched 25 years ago this month, has lost ground to GGPoker in recent years, while the product and the brand had become less of a priority for Flutter, especially as the New York-listed group tries to compete in the explosive prediction markets sector in the US.
While PokerStars is no longer the industry leader in terms of player numbers, its software is arguably the best on the market, while its renowned live events make it one of the gambling’s most recognised brands.
The PokerStars Network website states: “Partners gain immediate access to the world’s most recognisable, favoured and trusted brand in poker, driving visibility, strengthening credibility and accelerating go to market success.
“For players, scale matters. A larger shared liquidity pool reduces waiting times, increases game availability and strengthens competition – creating bigger prize pools and more exciting events.”
PokerStars holds a dozen licences, while its global dotcom pool means the product is accessible in more than 130 countries and accessed by over three million active players, the firm says.
The B2B expansion comes less than two months after the operator said its brands in the UK would be consolidated on a single network, with Betfair customers first having access to the product, ‘PokerStars on Betfair’.
Sky Poker and Paddy Power are set to follow later this year, with all three UK-licensed Flutter brands able to take advantage of PokerStars’ dotcom liquidity pool.
Earlier this year, PokerStars morphed into sister to site FanDuel in North America, while Flutter’s Sisal and Snaitech in Italy had previously departed Playtech’s iPoker platform to join the PSN.
Since Sisal made the switch in late 2024, its poker revenue has increased by more than 50%.
Flutter acquired PokerStars as part of the £10bn merger in 2020 between what was then known as Paddy Power Betfair and The Stars Group.
Meanwhile, it was announced in August that Dan Taylor, the boss of Flutter’s international unit, is set to replace Peter Jackson as group CEO from 1 October.
The post PokerStars looks to boost liquidity with launch of B2B offering first appeared on EGR Intel.
Flutter-owned subsidiary says partners can now gain access to PokerStars Network’s liquidity, “creating bigger prize pools and more exciting events”
The post PokerStars looks to boost liquidity with launch of B2B offering first appeared on EGR Intel.