Pokerstars appears to have taken notice of the unpopular player reaction to its imposition in early November 2014 of changes to its rake structures, with communications chief Eric Hollreiser announcing this week that the company will in most cases be abandoning the changes and reverting to former practice.
When the changes were introduced last year players accused the company of unilateral and short-notice action that had lost sight of its “player first” traditional policies and replaced them with greed under its new Amaya Gaming ownership.
Hollreiser explained the about-turn by Pokerstars thus:
“As you’re likely aware, more countries are introducing taxation, increasing the impact on our business and the poker economy at large. We will continue to use a combination of rake increases and VIP Club reward reductions to address the increased taxation, but these changes will be made consistent with our past practice of sharing up to 50% of taxation with players.”
Hollreiser added that no further rake increases in 2015 are envisaged, except in jurisdictions where changes may become necessary due to local increases in taxes. He also promised that in future any changes would be heralded by timely notifications to players.