Flutter Relaunches US Poker Product as ‘PokerStars on FanDuel,’ Finally Combines Player Pools
Credit: Neil Stoddart
Flutter has relaunched its U.S.-facing poker product, just says after shutting down PokerStars USA for good.
Early indications seemed to be that the PokerStars name would be completely phased out in favor of FanDuel branding, but that’s not the case. Rather, the new product, downloadable in app stores as PokerStars on FanDuel, is available as of Wednesday morning.
As part of the relaunch, players in Pennsylvania will finally be combined into one liquidity pool with their counterparts in New Jersey and Michigan. Once the market leader, PokerStars USA had fallen behind its some of its competitors after being much slower to integrate Pennsylvania, which has the largest population of any state that has legalized online poker.
Players can still access the old PokerStars client in order to withdraw any remaining funds. At the end of the month, PokerStars will clear whatever balances via a check to address registered in a player’s account.
No changes appear to have been made to the PokerStars “Lite” app, which facilitates play money and private poker clubs. Gaming America confirmed that the product is still running as normal.
A press release from the operator framed the new product as a “best-in-class poker experience.”
“By combining PokerStars’ industry-leading poker experience with FanDuel’s scale and reach, we’re able to deliver bigger games, larger prize pools and a more dynamic experience,” said Aaron Dugan, general manager of PokerStars at FanDuel. “We look forward to welcoming players to the tables.”
New PokerStars/FanDuel Product Brings Benefits for Players
Players get to enjoy some immediate benefits from the relaunch.
Chiefly, everyone gets to grab a sign-up bonus, including players who already have PokerStars USA and/or FanDuel accounts.
“Poker is new and all players are treated as new regardless of prior Sports or Casino activity,” a PokerStars rep wrote in the popular US Poker Community Discord.
Following the “new account” logic, everyone will choose a new username. WSOP players had a similar username reset when the new software arrived in 2024.
Further, PokerStars on FanDuel will celebrate the launch with a special pair of tournaments. The ultra-popular Sunday Million, once the flagship Sunday poker tournament for American players, will return, at least in a roundabout way. Instead of a single $1 million guaranteed tournament, PokerStars on FanDuel will run two $500,000 guaranteed tournaments on April 12.
Presumably, waiting until the second Sunday of operation will allow the operator to work out some bugs, avoid Easter Sunday, and qualify players. It will also avoid overlap with sweepstakes competitor ClubWPT Gold’s Club Million.
Flutter’s press release also promised a $150,000 freeroll series.
Players will hope the biggest benefits come down the line via cross-sell. If Flutter can use the FanDuel brand to recruit sports bettors and casino players and get them to play poker, the games should benefit. Generally speaking, however, most operators look to cross-sell in the other direction, since sports and especially casino generate more operator revenue.
Early Complaints About PokerStars on FanDuel
On the negative side, the PokerStars on FanDuel rollout has generated its fair share of early issues and complaints. Many of these are centered around the new product. Players in the US Poker Community Discord complained of technical and geolocation bugs blocking them from accessing the product.
The software has also reportedly taken a step back. Michael “Gags30” Gagliano summed up some of the complaints.
“Truly insane that Stars shelved one of the most praised softwares in the industry,” he wrote.
Additionally, a host of niche games have not yet become available at PokerStars on FanDuel. These include pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better, mixed games, heads-up tables, and sit-and-gos. A site rep confirmed that PLO8 and mixed tables are on the way. However, players hoping to engage in the latter two formats shouldn’t hold their breath. There are “no plans” to add heads-up games or sit-and-gos.
Finally, it’s important to note that individuals who have self-excluded from FanDuel or received operator bans cannot make accounts on the new client.
Can PokerStars on FanDuel Recapture Former Dominance?
PokerStars’ much-heralded return to U.S. soil largely failed to live up to expectations. The product showed significant early strength, but a lack of investment and the aforementioned miss on combining player pools stalled its momentum out.
According to Gaming America’s data, PokerStars held a clear-cut market lead approximately two years ago, with north of 40% estimated market share. That number slowly ticked down over the following year, until it stood on equal footing with BetMGM.
When Pennsylvania finally cleared the way for its poker players to join the shared liquidity pool last April, an inflection point occurred. PokerStars fell into the No. 3 spot, surpassed by WSOP. It has stayed there ever since.
Will Flutter’s reinvestment in poker translate to market dominance once more?
The company will need to avoid some of the missteps that plagued PokerStars in recent years. Keeping up with the competition in terms of adding more states and players is an obvious move. That’s contingent on more states legalizing poker, but Maine has already done so this year.
Focusing on the product will be crucial as well, though. PokerStars notably canceled its popular Championship of Online Poker (COOP) series last fall, disappointing players.
By contrast, BetMGM has made real efforts to market its product and run tie-ins with big live tournaments. WSOP has a built-in advantage with its online bracelet and World Series of Poker Circuit events.
It won’t be a free ride to the top, as many predicted when PokerStars returned to the U.S. in 2016.
Flutter Looks to Avoid Rival DK’s Diversification Pitfalls
Given that the floor of PokerStars was generally around a 24% market share, Flutter has at least positioned itself to avoid the pitfalls that rival DraftKings has experienced in its diversification efforts. Other verticals have not been kind to DK as it sought expansion beyond its core sports betting product.
On Tuesday, DraftKings revealed that it will sunset its standalone horse racing app, DK Horse. Instead, it will embed DraftKings Racing into its sportsbook. DraftKings Racing will be available on a state-by-state basis, with the press release saying it’s currently expanding to its 26th state.
FanDuel Predicts may also have the early edge over DK in the prediction market game. Both companies are treating predictions as a supplementary, placeholder product for states where they don’t operate sportsbooks. FanDuel Predicts notably reached No. 1 in the app store for sports last month.
DK’s foray into poker has produced by far the worst results. “Electric Poker” peaked at about a 2% market share and has only produced a few thousand dollars in revenue in recent months.
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