PokerStars, Largest Poker Site in the World, Registers 100 Millionth User

On January 25, the largest poker site in the world, PokerStars.com, registered its 100 millionth user. It was a user in PokerStars France called “ArtiB73”--who became PokerStars’ record-breaking player.

Since ArtiB73’s registration, PokerStars has kicked off a well-hyped promotion lasting the month of February. PokerStars advertises $1 million in prizes for players completing various in game objectives and access to a $100,000 Added VIP Club tournament on the 27th.

The road to this milestone has taken PokerStars approximately 15 years. PokerStars was started by an Israeli father and son duo, Mark and Isai Scheinberg, as a subsidiary of Rational Enterprises. Originally based in Costa Rica, the Scheinbergs moved the company to the Isle of Man for nonexistent corporate taxes and legal controversy of the US Wire Act, which would allow them to take bets from outside of the United States.

PokerStars launched its first poker-playing beta on September 11, 2001, but it was not until December of that year that the company even began to offer monetary bets.

In 2003, Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker, which brought much fame to the company. Moneymaker was an online satellite tournament entrant who qualified for the World Series through an online satellite tournament, setting off what would be described as the “Moneymaker Effect,” or the draw of new players to the exciting idea of qualifying for major in-house tournaments through online play.
After five years of growth, PokerStars was estimated to be worth $2 billion in 2006.

But 2006 was also the year that the Bush administration passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. This, however, may have worked in PokerStars’ favor. Other online poker sites, such as the former world’s largest site PartyPoker, backed out of the US after UIGEA. PokerStars did not and soon overtook PartyPoker.

In 2009, PokerStars hosted the world’s largest online tournament; it broke that record again in 2011, which was also when American federal prosecutors forced their US website to shut down.
Three years later, in 2014, the Scheinbergs were approached by fellow Israeli David Baazov, CEO of an obscure Montreal-based online gaming company called Amaya. Baazov convinced the Scheinbergs to sell Rational Group to Amaya for just shy of $5 billion.

When Amaya acquired Rational Group, the company had 89 million registered users. Over the next two years, Pokerstars would grow that last 11 million to break ground in the online poker industry.