Cyprus: Withdrawal of the poker giant poker star?

According to various Greek and Cypriot media reports, the gambling giant poker stars from Cyprus, which is particularly well-known through online poker. The news portals and newspapers, which have often dealt with the industry and can therefore also fall back on information from insiders, also relate to developments that affect the players themselves. These have been announced for a few days. At the present time, only speculation can be speculated about the possible background of the withdrawal.

Participation in tournaments of poker stars for players from Cyprus no longer possible

Players from Cyprus who want to take part in tournaments or live poker on the poker platform of the gaming giant poker star, have not been able to call up the corresponding tables for a few days. Playing is generally no longer possible. Although logging into the account is still possible, it is still possible, but new registrations are no longer available, since the software is no longer available for download. This development has been around since last weekend, which is why it is not surprising that different media now report, PokerStars withdraws from the Cypriot market. Players from Cyprus should have received an email with the following content, which speaks for the retreat:

“After a recent review of the problem, we decided to suspend access to the platform in the region. […] You can arrange payments by May 4, 2021. Even after this period, payments of the credit can be made on your account by ing the support department. ”

What events have led to the possible withdrawal of poker stars?

The obvious withdrawal from PokerStars comes despite a legal gray area, in which the gambling giant has been in place for eight years, surprisingly. After the government of Cyprus had issued a law in 2012, the online poker and online gambling in Cyprus with immediate effect, a withdrawal from PokerStars would have been likely. The only exception in the area of the online gambling was sports betting, which using a license of the Cyprus Gaming Commission may be offered. However, due to the EU regulations that are contradictory to national legislation, players from Cyprus could continue to fall back on the offer of poker stars and download the software.

According to the media reports of Cypriot newspapers and news portals, there seem to be tax reasons behind the withdrawal of PokerStars, since various players from Greece, Malta, Skopje and Great Britain have cheated on high tax amounts. The players in question had logged in and played via VPN with Cypriot accounts at PokerStars. In this way, the due tax levies could be saved in the event of profits and payments. For this purpose, a player named “Sotirios”, who wants to remain undetected, commented on the newspapers:

“In Greece you have to pay taxes. From 100 $ it is 15 %, from 500 $ it is 25 %. Poker stars keep that automatically. So if you win 1,000 $ and do not use this money to register for tournaments, 250 $ will be deducted at 7 a.m. The money goes to the Greek state. ”

The player Sotirios also revealed the trick of how to escape this automatic tax tax. To do this, you only have to register again immediately after a profit that was achieved in a tournament, with the corresponding money again at another tournament and thus reinvested the money won. Thereby the tax discount. Shortly before the start of the new tournament, you cancel the participation and the money will be credited to the profile account again – but without the deduction of the actually due tax.

This trick also works for accounts from Greek players, for example, continued Sotirios, but the payment with higher profits of 10,000 $ or more is much more difficult. There the money could not be paid out in one fell swoop, which is why many players, especially the high scooters, themselves Registered and logged in via a Cypriot account would have. Whether these incidents ultimately led to the withdrawal of PokerStars will only be clarified after an official statement by the poker giants.