PokerStars exits Chinese, Macau, Taiwan markets

Flutter Entertainment is pulling its PokerStars business out of China, Macau and Taiwan, exiting one of the world's largest online gaming markets.

The decision, according to Flutter, has been taken due to potential regulatory issues arising in these countries.

“We have been reviewing the compliance standards and market exposures of the combined group following our combination with The Stars Group,” a Flutter spokesperson said in a statement, as reported by FOX Business. “There were a small number of The Stars Group jurisdictions that Flutter had previously determined it would not operate in and in such cases, these markets are being switched off.”

While Chinese gaming handled 231 billion Chinese yuan ($33.8 billion) of business in 2018, Beijing banned online poker the following year. The government also banned transfer of crypto-currency to poker sites and silenced talk of poker on popular messaging apps.

Flutter closed on its $6 billion all-stock merger with Toronto-based online gaming company The Stars Group in May. The deal gave Flutter, which owns fantasy sports-betting site FanDuel, deeper penetration into the U.S. sports gambling market, which was legalized in 2019. The Stars Group owned gambling sites including PokerStars, Full Tilt and FOX Bet.

Flutter, which seeks to secure a Top 3 position in regulated markets such as the UK, Ireland and the US, expects to take a hit of 65 million British pounds per year as a result of its responsible gaming enhancements and the switch-offs. The company did not break out the numbers but said the majority of that will be due to the former.