Home News PokerStars Joins the Regulated Ontario Gambling Market

PokerStars Joins the Regulated Ontario Gambling Market

By Alexander Liam.
Fact checked by Wilbur Thompson.

PokerStars, the international online poker giant, is up and running in Ontario’s regulated online gaming market after undertaking an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario (iGO), a newly created organization overseeing the expansion of the iGaming market in Ontario province.

After receiving the license from the province’s overarching regulatory body, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), in June 2022, the world-famous online poker cardroom brand owned by Flutter Entertainment since May 5, 2020, has become the twenty-first fully approved operator in Ontario.

According to the  press-release PokerStars will offer poker, casino and sports betting on the territory of a province in east-central Canada that borders the U.S. well-known as Ontario. Flutter Entertainment, which owns PokerStars, already has a foothold in the province. The Irish bookmaking holding company created by the merger of Paddy Power and Betfair has already indicated its presence in April 2022. 

With three new websites under the PokerStars brand, for now, there are thirty-one online gambling establishments currently licensed to operate in Ontario province. 

Approval of PokerStars means that there are twenty-one regulated gaming operators in Ontario now, including such much-loved as 888.

Some other online gambling establishments, including four brands owned by the parent company of sports betting operator Betway and online casino Spin, Super Group, are going to become part of the Ontario iGaming sphere shortly.

PokerStars is not the first online poker room that received approval from the Ontario regulators, and some others, including GGPoker (WSOP) and NorthStar, are planning to launch their poker websites in the province.

According to the statement of the group marketing director for PokerStars, Tom Warren, Ontario is the company’s home market. The first-ever played hand of PokerStars happened in this province over twenty years ago. And now it feels like a long-expected homecoming.

Among other issues, a unique launch event, the Ontario Platinum Series, with a $1.5 million guaranteed prize pool, will be held by PokerStars from ten to eighteen July to celebrate the introduction of the new PokerStars CAON platform.

In order to give players extraordinary prizes, chances, and experiences, PokerStars is also looking forward to collaborating closely with its gaming partner, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE). In April 2022, MLSE and Flutter announced their partnership which also involves FanDuel. As part of their agreement, PokerStars would be prominently displayed at all Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors games, including on-court and rink-board signage.

Also Flutter Entertainment company has declared the opening of PokerStars Exchange, a new peer-to-peer online betting exchange that provides users with access to a variety of markets and allows them to buy and sell bets with one another globally.