Last month, when PokerStars issued a statement on its UK migration page regarding the resettlement of all UK based players to a new software platform and domain, it was revealed that the online poker operator intended to remove some popular features from its region-specific platform. Automatic top-ups of chips in cash games and re-buys in tournaments were slated for removal, much to the dismay of UK poker fans, who went so far as to petition for an alteration of the law. Thanks to a recent clarification by the Gambling Commission (UKGC), it seems those changes will not need to be made after all.
The commission stated that the verbiage of the law was essentially misinterpreted, and that the exclusion of automatic re-buys and top-ups by licenced online poker operators was part of the guidance section of the regulations, as opposed to indissoluble rules. The whole situation reminds me of a classic movie line in the 2003 Hollywood blockbuster film, Pirates of the Caribbean, in which Captain Barbosa explains to Elizabeth Swan that the ‘Pirates Code’ is “more what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules”. But in this case, there are actual rules that must be followed. Apparently, this just isn’t one of them.
“For present purposes, licence holders would comply with RTS 14 if they offer auto-rebuy provided other player protection measure[s] are effectively implemented,” explained the regulator. In its appraisal of the situation, the document went on to clarify (in bold text, no less), that, “An RTS ‘requirement’ is mandatory whereas RTS ‘implementation guidance’ is guidance as to how to comply with the requirement.”
The legal definition in question referenced the Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards (RTS). Under RTS 14A, the requirement text clearly states:
“Gambling products must not actively encourage customers to chase their losses, increase their stake or increase the amount they have decided to gamble, or continue to gamble after they have indicated that they wish to stop.”
Among the sub-paragraphs below RTS 14A, which fall under the category of ‘implementation guidance’, it states:
“i. the amount of funds taken into a product should not be topped up without the customer choosing to do so on each occasion, e.g. when a customer buys-in at a poker table they should have to choose to purchase more chips to play at the table – automatic re-buys should not be provided.”
The UKGC was quick to respond to the grievances of UK online players, and as such, PokerStars and Full Tilt will not have to disable these features when the region specific software goes live November 1st, 2014. However, the UK poker sites may choose to employ restrictions on those features in furtherance of a major factor in the commission’s statement. The clarification suggested that the re-buy option is viable if “other player protection measures are effectively implemented”. Thus it wouldn’t be surprising if the new software release comes with a limitation that requires UK online poker players to select a fixed number of re-buys allowed for a tournament, or a maximum top-up allotment for cash game tables. PokerStars and Full Tilt have yet to comment on the matter.