Amaya Gaming-owned online poker brand PokerStars has opted to cancel a previously announced rake increase on the majority of its services.
The operator in October attracted criticism from the online poker community after it announced new strategic changes that included rake increases.
The initial rake increase was broken down into two parts, with the operator having increased the rake on all of its heads-up, hyper-turbo, sit-and-go tournaments on November 3, with more changes set to follow this year.
However, these plans and the previously instituted changes have now been scrapped with the exception of the November changes to Spin & Go tables.
Eric Hollreiser, head of corporate communications for PokerStars and Amaya, confirmed the move in a post on the PokerStars blog.
“After additional analysis and consideration, we have now returned the rake to pre-November 3 levels in most instances and have cancelled the planned additional increases,” Hollreiser said.
“We will not increase any rake in 2015 other than in jurisdictions where we have already or will experience increased gaming duty or VAT.”
Despite the rake increases having been cancelled, PokerStars warned in a post on TwoPlusTwo that other changes may be made, including VPP multipliers being reduced for customers in countries where VAT or gaming duty are payable and possible rake surcharges for those in similar markets.
“As you’re likely aware, more countries are introducing taxation, increasing the impact on our business and the poker economy at large,” Hollreiser said.
“We will continue to use a combination of rake increases and VIP Club reward reductions to address the increased taxation, but these changes will be made consistent with our past practice of sharing up to 50% of taxation with players.
“For instance, within a few months we will reduce the VPP multipliers for some countries that are subject to gaming duty or VAT but that do not have their own software clients.
“We will deploy the change as soon as we are technically able, likely within the next two months.
“We are also developing the ability to charge different rake/fees for different players within shared liquidity.”
source : www.igamingbusiness.com
