PokerStars: "A Very Small Number" of Affiliate Agreements Terminated
Key Takeaways
  • “PokerStars ended the agreements with a very small number of affiliates who were not recruiting many new players.”
  • PokerStars “routinely reviews its agreements with these affiliates to ensure that they are productive for the company.”

PokerStars issued a statement Friday seeking to calm concerns that it had changed its approach to affiliate marketing following a cluster of reports earlier this week of contracts being terminated.

“PokerStars ended the agreements with a very small number of affiliates who were not recruiting many new players, and who were doing little active promotion of our services,” a statement issed to pokerfuse on Friday read.

Earlier in the day, pokerfuse PRO examined reports from earlier this week, including one from Markus Sonermo, owner of the long-standing Poker.org, that contracts had been terminated.

“The reason given was that they felt I had too many old players generating revenue to justify my monthly payment. As if we were on some sort of flat monthly deal,” wrote Sonermo.

The statement from PokerStars further clarified that it has agreements with “thousands of third-party websites ('affiliates’) to market [its] services to new players and encourage them to play at PokerStars,” and that the online poker room “routinely reviews its agreements with these affiliates to ensure that they are productive for the company.”