As we already know, on October 1st, all online poker operators accepting UK customers must be licensed in the United Kingdom and will be subject to a 15% tax on all gross profits stemming from the region’s customers. Yesterday, PokerStars confirmed its intentions to maintain its services in the UK, sending out an email to all relative customers who will be affected. Fortunately for UK online poker fans, not much is going to change for them, at least not this year.
OnlinePokerRealMoney.co.uk tries to dispel some legal confusions stemming from passage of George Bush's UIGEA of 2006 . Federal status seems to depend on interpretation of the wire act and other laws which were crafted many years ago and which remained high level in nature. The United Kingdom has much clearer laws including their own real money gambling commission .
All members of PokerStars residing in the UK will be migrated to the new PokerStars UK poker room as of Wednesday, October 1st. From that point forward, the first time a player logs into the UK version of the poker site (ostensibly Pokerstars.co.uk), the player will be prompted to download and install the new software version. All player information and finances will be automatically transferred, including everything from usernames, passwords and settings, to account and VPP balances and player notes. For mobile clientele, the old apps will have to be uninstalled, replaced by the new PokerStars UK mobile for Android and Apple devices.
Not much else is expected to change for UK members of the online poker room. Players will still be pooled with the global poker base, all rakes and fees will remain the same, etc. PokerStars did not reference any changes to the site’s in-game features, but it is likely that, due to UK regulatory guidelines, UK players will no longer have access to the auto-rebuy function for tournaments or cash games.
The one notable difference players can expect from the UK online poker version is an adjustment to the VIP loyalty rewards programme, but that won’t be implemented for a while. Under the FAQ section of the PokerStars UK Migration webpage, the following question was answered:
| Q. Will my VIP Club rewards be affected? A. VIP Club rewards for PokerStars UK will be the same as on PokerStars.com for the remainder of 2014. Rewards will be reduced slightly for 2015; more information will be available at a later date. |
Ostensibly, PokerStars will be passing on a portion of the additional cost of dishing up a 15% tax on UK-derived GPT to the players by way of a cut into the VIP rewards. This is the only feasible way for PokerStars to offset some of the cost without effecting players in other jurisdictions, such as increasing rake or tournament fees. While no explicit details have yet been provided on how the VIP programme will be altered in 2015, it is worth pointing out that PokerStars revealed a “substantial review” of its VIP rewards schedule back in June, alluding to possible changes in the coming year.
Only one other online poker operator, Mansion Poker, has taken the time to inform its UK player base of its plans for the future. In Mansion’s case, the online poker room will cease operations in the United Kingdom, withdrawing its online poker services from the region, but maintaining its online casino brands. With less than two weeks before the new tax regulations take effect, many more iGaming operators are expected to address the issue with their UK customers over the next week, either declaring the cessation of operations in the UK market, or shepherding their players into a new era of UK regulated online gambling.