Poker Stars pull out of the Montreal poker festival

[Baron Von Strucker]

I read the on poker news today and think some bad shit happened or conflict for pokerstars to pull out two weeks before the event.


link http://www.pokernews.com/news/2014/0...real-18945.htm

As reported on Monday by Canada PokerNews' Lane Anderson, PokerStars has decided to pull out from the Montreal Festival only few weeks from the beginning of the event.

Right at the same time, mentions of PokerStars were taken off from the Montreal Festival's website, where all the banners referring to the poker room were promptly replaced by new ones about the poker room where the series will be held.

Although it was never originally communicated to the media, PokerStars' decision not to participate to the organization of the event was confirmed by PokerStars Head of Poker Communications Lee Jones on the Two Plus Two Poker Forum today.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, PokerStars will not be continuing its participation in the upcoming festival," Jones wrote. "However, the tournament will continue as planned as the 'Playground Festival of Poker' and we will, of course, honor our previous commitment to players and satellite winners. No other PokerStars services in Canada are affected."

Talking to PokerNews, two spokespersons from Playground also confirmed PokerStars' decision to pull out from the event. "Due to unforeseen circumstances, PokerStars has withdrawn their branding from the event," they commented.

What Happens Now?
Scheduled between August 22 and September 3, the Montreal Poker Festival will still take place at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal, Canada, as previously planned.

The event, which has now been rebranded as Playground Poker Club Montreal Festival, will evolve around a 16-event schedule featuring a $1,000,000 guaranteed main event with a buy-in of $1,100.

Even if PokerStars' absence is not meant to have any direct consequence on any of the events planned — as both the guarantee and the schedule set when the deal with the poker room was still in place have been confirmed — things may be a little different in terms of online qualifiers, as the online room will no longer offer the possibility to qualify for the event.

As Canada PokerNews reports, the move may be strictly connected with the completion of the deal that brought both PokerStars and Full Tilt under the property of Montreal-based and publicly-traded Amaya Gaming, as many believe that this could result in the end of both rooms' operations in Canada's grey market.

For news, updates, and more follow PokerNews on Twitter and Facebook.

[hotshott74]

Saw this earlier and it seems that a lot of Canadian pro's were commenting on twitter about this while it occured and PokerStars was very silent on the issue during the event.

Pretty sure it is as stated in that they just announced the sale with Amaya and they don't want to upset the apple cart. Hopefully, that's all it is and not a sign of something more ominous.

Follow this guy John Harnish on twitter, he has lots of info on Poker in Canada. Link to his twitter feed: https://twitter.com/Jontm

Can also find info from the 4 link here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...&postcount=519 and http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/65...94/index2.html

[Shizzmoney]

I will be up there in a few weeks for the 4 flight $150 re-entry (they got 1605 last year when it was the "Full Tilt Montreal Festival" for that event).

Wonder if the CAN govt is also about to do a policy 180 and tighten the screws on online poker, esp vendors like Stars who I am sure have flouted tax laws.

The Canadian Government simply isn’t that concerned with stopping this activity. Never has a threatening word been uttered that suggested the government is going to attack the online gaming industry. It would be a lengthy and expensive process, and there is little incentive to do so. Why would they want to? Who would pressure them to suddenly take this action? In fact, now that this once-multi-million-dollar gaming corporation is at the helm of $5 billion dollars worth of assets, the Canadian Government will be happy to be able to collect all that additional corporate tax.

For examples of the Canadian Government being aware of unlawful poker rooms operating in the country and not taking any steps to do anything about it, look no further than Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC). As detailed in Heydary Hamilton PC’s “Overview of Online Gaming in Canada,” the Mohawk reserve of Kahnawake just outside of Montreal has argued that they are a sovereign nation and are able to issue gaming licenses as they see fit. Sites like DuckPoker, Unibet, and the notorious Bovada, among dozens of others, all hold a KGC license and continue to operate and offer their services to Canadians. Despite what KGC asserts, the Canadian Government does not recognize their jurisdiction for online gaming, and it has been ruled in the Supreme Court of Canada that the regulation of gaming is not within the rights of First Nations. However, no action has been taken to stop them since the ruling was made nearly 20 years ago.

[BetCheckBet]

More likely Quebec government fucking things over. Online poker is regulated at a provincial level as well. Could be pressure from Quebec providers.

[hotshott74]

I will be up there in a few weeks for the 4 flight $150 re-entry (they got 1605 last year when it was the "Full Tilt Montreal Festival" for that event).

Wonder if the CAN govt is also about to do a policy 180 and tighten the screws on online poker, esp vendors like Stars who I am sure have flouted tax laws.

The Canadian Government simply isn’t that concerned with stopping this activity. Never has a threatening word been uttered that suggested the government is going to attack the online gaming industry. It would be a lengthy and expensive process, and there is little incentive to do so. Why would they want to? Who would pressure them to suddenly take this action? In fact, now that this once-multi-million-dollar gaming corporation is at the helm of $5 billion dollars worth of assets, the Canadian Government will be happy to be able to collect all that additional corporate tax.

For examples of the Canadian Government being aware of unlawful poker rooms operating in the country and not taking any steps to do anything about it, look no further than Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC). As detailed in Heydary Hamilton PC’s “Overview of Online Gaming in Canada,” the Mohawk reserve of Kahnawake just outside of Montreal has argued that they are a sovereign nation and are able to issue gaming licenses as they see fit. Sites like DuckPoker, Unibet, and the notorious Bovada, among dozens of others, all hold a KGC license and continue to operate and offer their services to Canadians. Despite what KGC asserts, the Canadian Government does not recognize their jurisdiction for online gaming, and it has been ruled in the Supreme Court of Canada that the regulation of gaming is not within the rights of First Nations. However, no action has been taken to stop them since the ruling was made nearly 20 years ago.

I think the tightening of the screws would be done at a provincial level instead of a Federal level as it is regulated Provincially. Quebec has EspaceJeux which is the provincial site, I could see them not wanting to piss off the Quebec government while they pretty much have free reign in Ontario. Once Ontario has there own Provincial site up and running who knows, they are the largest province so I could see a crackdown happening then.

[Shizzmoney]

Interesting points on the provinces!

I also kind of thought about this "pulling back" from Stars in other countries after reading the article below on PokerStars not renewing the contract of Humberto Brenes, a longtime TeamPokerStars Pro:

The amount of sponsored players (in Latin America) could be reduced, but that's up to the new administration. I don’t see it possible that the company could hire new faces for the team."

Brenes also told us that decisions made at the commercial level will not influence the operation center that PokerStars has in Costa Rica. "I'm glad that the decisions of the new owners of the company will not impact staff based in Costa Rica," he said. "I have many friends there, and they are almost 300 people working at that office. It will remain working with the same conditions."