PokerStars Winter Boycotts Fail to Elicit Change in Poker Giant's 2016 Rewards Program

PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker website, drew massive amounts of community ire this winter. But this does not seem to have significantly threatened the company’s bottom line.

The cause: the poker giant suddenly and drastically rolled back the rewards for its high volume and highly ranked players, instituting a new system that is said to cater to casual players while leaving the online pros high and dry.

The new VIP program previously featured expansive boons for the highest ranked Supernova and Supernova Elite players (some 2% of the player base), such as increased rakebacks, and promises that their earned status would finish out that year and roll over into the next. But PokerStars unveiled a new rewards program on November 1. “PokerStars today unveiled a comprehensive plan to enhance the playing experience and to re-emphasize the fun and social aspects of online poker while attracting and retaining more players to the game," according to Eric Hollreiser, who is the Vice President of Corporate Communications for Amaya Inc., the owner of the PokerStars website, on that day.

It was designed ostensibly to “simplify the reward system and enhance its visibility during play, so that players can follow their progress in real time,” according to the site, the Supernova tier players only saw their cash earnings capped, and watched as their status expired prematurely at the end of 2015.

Pro player Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo was one of the top level players affected. From his Twitter: “Nov 1st, 2015 - The day PokerStars formally announced they no longer care about their customers.” Bonomo also warned that “there [would] be riots.”

The ensuing blowback consisted of two community organized boycotts (December 1-3 and January 1-7), the players’ coordinated withdrawal of a chunk of funds from their accounts, and an onslaught of complaints. But the site did not seem to suffer. Some 2500 players boycotted in December; during that period, games played for money increased by 33 percent. More than 2000 players boycotted in January, but PokerStars saw an increase of .3-.6% in high-stakes traffic against the previous two months.

PokerStars has been seemingly victorious in terms of absolute numbers. However, some complicating factors are in play: it is thought that seasonal traffic and Amaya’s intense $2.5 million spent on January promotions has covered up the fact that they have experienced relative losses compared to their potential. Either way, PokerStars does not seem to have any intention of reverting the changes.

Later in January, Amaya invited several professional players critical of the changes--Ike Haxton, Daniel Dvoress, and Dani Stern--to a meeting with the company’s executives in Montreal. Though a conciliatory move, PokerStars online pro Daniel Negreanu insisted that it is only a discussion, and not a negotiation.

A third boycott, which in early January had been scheduled to begin February 2, seems to have been completely forgotten about.