PokerStars withdraws from “restrictive” Colombian market
Operator points finger at closed liquidity pool and lack of “sensible” technical requirements
PokerStars has withdrawn its real-money poker product from the Colombian market, labelling the country’s newly-introduced regulation “restrictive”.
The operator told customers its service was being deactivated on Monday, although its free-to-play product is still available.
The withdrawal comes after Colombia issued its first licence for the regulated market and started ISP blocking a list of more than 300 operators at the end of June.
PokerStars said its withdrawal was prompted by the absence of international poker liquidity and some restrictive regulation. Licensees, for example, are required to have servers in Colombia.
“PokerStars is withdrawing the option of real money poker play for Colombian residents from Monday, July 17 due to local licensing requirements,” said Eric Hollreiser, director of corporate communications for PokerStars.
“Restrictive regulation within a closed market creates a situation that is not viable for operators or attractive for customers.
“Our experience as the global leader in online poker is that access to shared global liquidity promotes a healthy consumer-operator-regulator relationship. That needs to be backed up by sensible technical and compliance requirements.”
The operator said it will continue to engage with Colombian government officials in the hope that “sensible gaming regulation is adopted that encourages PokerStars and other responsible operators to apply for local licenses in the future”.
Colombian players are still able to withdraw their funds.
The Colombian regulator Coljuegos has so far issued one licence for the new market, which imposes an approximately 16% tax on GGR.
The market is estimated to be worth approximately £60m in its first year of operation.