PokerStars’ parent company Flutter Entertainment has confirmed it is pulling out of the company’s Chinese markets.
Flutter and the Stars Group merged this year after the deal was cleared by the Competition and Markets Authority.
As well as China, Flutter has confirmed that it will be switching off PokerStars’ online markets in Taiwan and Macau just days after it said it planned to ’switch off’ markets that fell outside its compliance standards.
The move is due to cost the company about £65m, with the company seeing it as a price worth paying in order to ensure there is no repurcussions from regulators in other jurisdictions such as the USA.
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standards
A spokesman for Flutter Entertainment said it has been ’reviewing the compliance standards and market exposures of the combined group following our transaction’.
He added: ’While we are yet to fully complete our review, we have identified areas where improvements need to be made. There were a small number of Stars Group jurisdictions that Flutter had previously determined it would not operate in and in such cases, these markets are being switched off.
’We estimate that the combined impact of these measures will reduce contribution on an annualised basis by c.£65m, the majority of which relates to aligning our responsible gambling/compliance procedures and putting Flutter’s enhanced checks in place across the PokerStars business.’
However, the company said the change would not impact on PokerStars’ staff in the Isle of Man. Last year we reported that staff would be made redundant as the company ’has faced many headwinds over the last year, including disruptions in our key markets’.
As the Manx Independent went to press, the company had nine job postings on the government’s Job Search website. While there will be no further cuts to staff numbers in the island, the company is only going to be operating one office.
The spokesman said: ’We can confirm that we do not intend to renew our lease for a second office in central Douglas and will operate solely from our office at King Edward Bay. However, there are no plans to reduce employee head count to accommodate the move.
’The move is consistent with trends across Flutter Entertainment in recent years to adopt more flexible remote working arrangements - which are now, of course, more important.
’We are confident that our office at King Edward Bay will accommodate the hundreds of staff we employ in the Isle of Man, just as it did in the past and are committed to our presence here.’