PokerStars in auto-rebuy u-turn
Online poker giant reinstates auto-rebuy on UK-facing site after GB Gambling Commission clarifies stance on function
PokerStars has reinstated auto-rebuy on its UK-facing PokerStars.co.uk site after Great Britain’s Gambling Commission (GC) last week clarified its stance on the function within its new licensing and regulatory framework.
The poker giant was among a number of operators that removed auto-rebuy from its UK-facing platform citing remote technical standard (RTS) 14, which aims to ensure that poker sites are designed to minimise the risk of exploiting or encouraging problem gambling behaviour.
However, in a clarification document published last week, the Commission said operators had two options regarding RTS 14, either they could choose not to offer auto-rebuy, or they could offer auto-rebuy so long as they ensured other player protection measures were in place.
While the online poker giant confirmed to eGaming Review it would be offering auto-rebuy to UK players, it would not elaborate on what, if any, additional player protection measures were in place to satisfy the regulator’s requirements.
“We were pleased to see the GB Gambling Commission respond favourably to ours and the players’ requests to re-consider this point [auto-rebuy] and it will be available on PokerStars’ UK-facing site,” Eric Hollreiser, PokerStars head of corporate communications, said.
The Gambling Commission is also reviewing its requirements for online casino auto-play, covered under RTS 8, with the guideline currently suspended pending a consultation.
Under the current version of RTS 8 operators would be required to restrict the number of auto-play spins to 25, but a proposed amendment extends this to 100 with customers able to set stop loss and “stop at win” limits.
The new GB licensing and regulatory regime was set to come into force on 1 October, however the implementation date was put back until 1 November after being challenged in the courts by the Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association.