Germany restricts Pokerstars from offering rewards for German players

[Jamil]

Did you see the new decision on pokerstars germany?

 

[wrzlbrnft]

I recieved this message today from Pokerstars:

Hello, Due to regulatory restrictions in Germany, we will no longer be able to offer PokerStars Rewards in Germany from 10 January 2023. The following important changes will be made. We will no longer offer PokerStars Rewards and Monthly Poker Challenges. We will no longer offer StarsCoin. Any remaining StarsCoin will be converted to cash, but you can convert them or use them before January 10. No compensation will be offered for uncompleted progress bars (PokerStars Rewards). All existing earned Chests will be automatically opened with the rewards being credited to your account. You can continue to use existing Poker and Vegas rewards as normal. We understand this is a big change and we will be looking to review our promotional offering to secure a continued great poker experience for our players. You can find out more information in our FAQs, please click here. PokerStars

 

[Debi]

Changed the thread title to more accurately reflect what happened

 

[G0930]

I recieved this message today from Pokerstars:

Hello, Due to regulatory restrictions in Germany, we will no longer be able to offer PokerStars Rewards in Germany from 10 January 2023. The following important changes will be made. We will no longer offer PokerStars Rewards and Monthly Poker Challenges. We will no longer offer StarsCoin. Any remaining StarsCoin will be converted to cash, but you can convert them or use them before January 10. No compensation will be offered for uncompleted progress bars (PokerStars Rewards). All existing earned Chests will be automatically opened with the rewards being credited to your account. You can continue to use existing Poker and Vegas rewards as normal. We understand this is a big change and we will be looking to review our promotional offering to secure a continued great poker experience for our players. You can find out more information in our FAQs, please click here. PokerStars

Nothing to do other than being angry at German politicians I'm afraid 😐

 

[fundiver199]

Welcome in the club. Its been like that here in sweden for years

 

[wrzlbrnft]

to be honest, I won't miss that much those star coin rewards and the lousy chest contents...

 

[acidburnfx]

I don't remember receiving StarsCoins for a long time, it seems like it doesn't exist anymore. In the past, when you completed the progress bar, you almost always received.

 

[G0930]

to be honest, I won't miss that much those star coin rewards and the lousy chest contents...

You're kinda right .Especially since you can't collect them anymore but are automatically transformed to money after each month
cool chests are at Gold level though.

 

[wrzlbrnft]

You're kinda right .Especially since you can't collect them anymore but are automatically transformed to money after each month
cool chests are at Gold level though.

Playing mainly CC freerolls on PS, I haven't climbed these higher levels...

 

[G0930]

Playing mainly CC freerolls on PS, I haven't climbed these higher levels...

To be honest I only reached Gold because of cash game and very lucky spin wins .
From tournaments alone it's veeery difficult to upgrade

 

[azforlife]

Pokerstars is taking drastic actions recently. Add this to the growing list of banned countries

 

[kitchy65]

Welcome in the club. Its been like that here in Sweden for years

Be good EUopeans

 

[mina271]

I suppose that the other German players also received this message from PokerStars and I wanted to include it here too, but unfortunately it is in German and I don't want to break any forum rules. It was said that from 10.1.2023 there will no longer be a reward system for German players on PokerStars. No more treasure chests and no more Starcoins either. What Starcoins or treasure chest you still have at that time will then be immediately exchanged for the rewards you can get or even for money. I'm a bit disappointed and I don't know what other compensation is coming, but on the other hand I'm just happy that we can still play but unfortunately it doesn't remain very attractive to play on PokerStars. I hope that at least the Cardschat freerols will remain for German players.

 

[Highfish]

I will definitely stop playing cash games now; maybe from time to time a tourney.

 

[Rockyfour]

Hopefully they lower the rake for you guys or something or else playing on the site is going to be just a huge waste of time.

 

[0546474]

There have been no major changes at PokerStars for a long time!!! I hope there will be changes soon, and for the better for the players.

 

[millya5]

Bad news for German players

 

[Sash_XXL]

I don't remember receiving StarsCoins for a long time, it seems like it doesn't exist anymore. In the past, when you completed the progress bar, you almost always received.

I had some in the Last Chest 😂

 

[Andyreas]

I had some in the Last Chest 😂

Me too

 

[Poker Orifice]

Hopefully they lower the rake for you guys or something or else playing on the site is going to be just a huge waste of time.

How could they lower the rake when they're part of the ROW player pool?

I'd hazard a guess that most CC members aren't playing on Stars for the huge rakeback & rewards program. Up until a year ago there basically hasn't been any for many years (well.. almost non-existent).

 

[fundiver199]

Hopefully they lower the rake for you guys or something

They wont. And they have no reason to either, since the german government require them to pay a tax on all poker revenue. So even without rakeback or other rewards they still have a lower profit margin in Germany than elsewhere.

or else playing on the site is going to be just a huge waste of time.

Definitely not. PokerStars have the best game selection and most activity of any site other than GG Poker. And on GG Poker german players have to pay the tax themselfes, which essentially work like a huge extra rake. Especially for cash game players, who like to jump around tables. I am playing on PokerStars most of the time, I get no rakeback whatsoever, and I am still winning money.

I'd hazard a guess that most CC members aren't playing on Stars for the huge rakeback & rewards program. Up until a year ago there basically hasn't been any for many years (well.. almost non-existent).

Exactly.

 

[Andyreas]

One question to all the German members:

I still see my chest in the application. Same for you? But I do not get offered the monthly poker challenge anymore...

 

[Highfish]

One question to all the German members:

I still see my chest in the application. Same for you? But I do not get offered the monthly poker challenge anymore...

same here

 

[dreamer13]

The German government has introduced a new turnover tax of 5.3%. In addition, the new legislation prohibits Germans from playing more than four tables, depositing more than €1,000 per month into the site, and choosing their seats at the cash game tables. At PokerStars, this tax is levied on buy-ins - operators will be taxed depending on whether how long the player sits at the table. For example, for every €100 from a player, the poker room will pay the German government €5.30.The government has made another major change - when players sit down at the table, they must play a certain number of hands before getting up and out of the game. If players do not follow this rule, they will not be able to return to the table for a certain amount of time.

 

[EnzoRS94]

The question is, what's the point of doing all that?