Flutter Entertainment is making PokerStars the primary poker product of its UK brands, starting with Betfair before an integration on Sky Bet and Paddy Power later this year.
Consolidation of UK brands comes amid a generational leadership change at Flutter, with current Chief Executive Officer and President of International brands, Dan Taylor, whose remit has included UK&I operations, due to take the helm as Group CEO from long-serving Peter Jackson in October.
The migration marks a major step in the gaming giant’s approach to omnichannel and cross-sell betting and gaming in the UK, one of its biggest international markets and one of the top five biggest gambling sectors globally.
Flutter’s stated aim with the integration and migration is improving liquidity with the PokerStars platform integrated across multiple brands to create a huge multinational player pool across the whole PokerStars Network (PSN).
The company has already tested the approach in other markets. PokerStars has already been integrated into the US operations of the FanDuel sportsbook and the Italian operations of Sisal and SNAI, its two holdings in the other key European market – widely considered the second biggest in Europe after the UK.
Kim Daly, Managing Director for Betfair, said: “I’m thrilled to bring two iconic brands under one roof. By integrating PokerStars onto the Betfair platform, we’re uniting two category-transformers that share a passion for innovation and player empowerment.
“Combined with the market-leading Betfair Casino product we’ve developed, this creates a truly comprehensive offering – poker, sports betting, and premium casino gaming all seamlessly integrated.”
Flutter gets long-term PokerStars plans in motion
PokerStars will be integrated onto the Betfair platform from 13 August. The offering will be co-branded, carrying the name “PokerStars on Betfair”.
The existing PokerStars UK platform will continue to exist, but Flutter plans for the brand and product, complete with all its customers, to eventually fully migrate to the Betfair Casino platform.
It holds similar ambitions for Sky Betting and Gaming and Paddy Power, as mentioned above. PokerStars will sit alongside the existing online casino products on each respective brand, with one pool of liquidity shared across all three and the wider .com network.
Betfair’s Dally added that the PokerStars integration onto Betfair is a “powerball moment for the industry”, which will combine “the very best in innovation to create an unmatched experience for players everywhere”.
Mike Woodbridge, Chief Commercial Officer, PokerStars, remarked: “PokerStars is the most iconic brand in global poker – these changes ensure that it remains a core, strategic brand within Flutter’s portfolio.”
Founded in 2001 and operated for many years by the Nasdaq traded The Stars Group, PokerStars established itself as a dominant player in the international online poker industry throughout the first two decades of the 20th century.
This was noted by Flutter, which had come into being in 2019 after rebranding from the initial name of Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) and following its acquisition of FanDuel in 2018, which would later become one of the two biggest sportsbooks in the US alongside DraftKings.
In 2020, Flutter acquired The Stars Group. In doing so it not only acquired PokerStars but also Sky Bet, one of the top five biggest brands in the UK, which had been purchased by The Stars Group in April 2018.
Six years down the line, Flutter believes that a liquidity-focused operating model as well as a more regional approach to customer experiences is needed across PokerStars.
This is partly in response to regulations, with regulation of online poker varying considerably from market-to-market, often being much more complex and different than sports betting regulations country-to-country.
“In recent years the market environment has got harder for brands like PokerStars,” Woodbridge continued.
“A patchwork of regulation from one market to the next has fragmented the global game and led us to make the difficult decisions to exit certain markets and not enter others.
“Players have felt it through thinner fields and smaller tournament prizes on our site’
“We want to do something about that so we’re moving to a different model with the aim of improving liquidity and player pools and bringing people back to the poker table.”
The consolidation in the UK also comes three months after a new tax regime on online casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) came into effect. Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) went up from 21% to 40%, and the financial impact on online casino operations is expected to be huge.
Meanwhile, Flutter has also just finished what was a less than impressive quarter. The firm’s net loss came in at $296m, though UK and Irish revenue had risen by 4% year-over-year to $971m (£719m).
Further consolidation of its global portfolio could be a response to challenges like these as a now heavily US-oriented and now solely-NYSE-listed Flutter looks to how its international, non-US assets can be leveraged to the best possible extent.
