The Stars Group, the parent company of online poker giant PokerStars, has recently announced the launch of their new social game, PokerStars Play, to players living in the United States and Australia. The social poker game will once again give players in both regions to enjoy online poker while at the same time assisting in the operator’s global expansion bid that targets the particularly difficult countries.
The last few years have not been easy for poker players in the United States and Australia especially because of a number of bans – real money online poker is only legal in a handful of states in the U.S. while it has been completely banned in Australia. As such, the new PokerStars Play offering offers online poker players a viable workaround by allowing them to indulge in an authentic poker experience without having to risk a cent. The lack of a real money offering for this sociable setting in the poker offering also makes it completely legal in both jurisdictions.
With the app, Australian and American players will be able to participate in Omaha and Texas Hold’em ring games as well as a variety of exciting tournaments. In addition to this, PokerStars’ popular Spin & Go tournaments are also offered alongside a decent selection of online slots.
“PokerStars Play is a unique product, taking the best of real money gaming and merging it with the features players expect from mobile games. It brings together the lessons we learned building Jackpot Poker, probably the best social poker game on the market, with the incredible brand equity we have at PokerStars. We are very excited to launch PokerStars Play as it represents a great opportunity for players of social poker products to now play with and against the best from the poker leaders,” said Lloyd Melnick, the Director of Social Gaming at PokerStars.
Taking It a Notch Higher
Like many other social poker platforms, PokerStars Play focusses majorly on the community of customers that visit the platform. The players can, therefore, play against each other and collect trophies to show off their accomplishments in the social game. While players cannot use real money to play on the platform, they are offered the option of purchasing gaming chips – this is completely legal in both Australia and the United States.
More and more improvements are being to the app to make sure it delivers an outstanding experience. In fact, it has already received a couple of updates with the most recent update coming with a number of new progressive jackpot slot games as well as significant under-the-hood improvements.
For now, PokerStars is focusing on the two countries but the company has its sights set on offering PokerStars Play in many other countries where real money online poker is illegal. This is great news for online poker players.