PokerStars Completes Migration To FanDuel Casino In Regulated US Markets

The standalone PokerStars app in the U.S. is no more. The new app with the not-terribly-succinct name “PokerStars Exclusively on FanDuel” is here.

The changeover was completed Wednesday at 8 a.m. ET — curious timing in that longtime PokerStars users logging in might have thought the sudden absence of poker games on the app was an April Fool’s joke. But it’s the real deal. For players in the three states where PokerStars is regulated — New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan — the action has moved to the new FanDuel app that combines poker with against-the-house casino games.

Perhaps most significantly for poker players in those states, this change marks the debut of interstate player pooling on the Flutter-owned site. Until now, players in Michigan could only play against others located in Michigan, players in Pennsylvania could only play against others located in Pennsylvania, and players in Jersey could only play against others located in Jersey. Now they are intermingled, creating larger tournament prize pools and less waiting around for tables to fill.

For those with existing FanDuel Casino accounts, their PokerStars Exclusively on FanDuel wallets are already filled with the funds they had on FanDuel Casino. Those casino games are, at least for now, available to play in either app.

As for the existing PokerStars accounts, those funds are no longer available for play and were not ported over. The site is issuing a notice upon log-in that players must withdraw those funds by the end of April.

What promos and games are available?

The change to Flutter’s better-known FanDuel brand has been in the works since at least February, and the move was confirmed in early March.

The launch comes with three promotions, available to all players, regardless of whether they previously had a PokerStars account or a FanDuel account.

There’s a 100% first-deposit bonus match up to $1,000, although it is released in increments — $5 in site credit for every $25 paid in rake or fees playing real-money poker, over a 120-day period.

The other two promos are much more straightforward: two $5 Spin & Go tickets, and a $20 ticket to a satellite for the April 12 Sunday Million tournament.

The game options are similar, but not identical, to those in the former PokerStars app.

The return of the Sunday Million, a staple back in the pre-Black Friday days on PokerStars, is significant. There is also a “No Sweat Series” of freerolls coming, plus an assortment of daily/nightly tournaments with buy-ins from $5 to $100.

Cash games include no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, and seven-card stud, plus there’s Zoom Poker — a format where players are constantly hopping to new tables to keep the action moving.

Spin & Gos — a hyper-turbo three-player sit & go with an element of chance in terms of the prize available — remain, but the price points have changed. Instead of $1, $2, $5, $10, and $25, now the options are $1, $5, $20, and $50. And there are no standard sit & go single-table tournaments or heads-up matches available in the lobby at this time.

Perhaps the most jarring change is simply the combination of poker games and casino games in the same lobby. For example, a list of “featured” games shows a no-limit hold’em cash game directly above a Huff N’ Even More Puff slot.

Or on the home screen, Spin & Gos are listed directly above live-dealer casino games:

Many of the standard responsible gambling tools are available, including deposit limits and self-exclusions, but notably, there is not at this time a way to exclude from one type of gaming but not the other, or to set different limits for different games.

Relatedly, as of now, poker and casino play at PokerStars Exclusively on FanDuel all comes from the same wallet of funds, with no option to distinguish a poker bankroll from a casino bankroll.