Online Poker Explodes
PokerStars was founded in 2001 and is now the largest real money online poker site with 89 million registered users. In 2003, Chris Moneymaker a PokerStars satellite tournament winner turned the poker world upside down by winning the World Series of Poker (WSOP). This was the first year the WSOP introduced eligibility for satellite winners. By 2006, attendance at the WSOP Main Event increased 10-fold due to PokerStars’ satellites.
Biggest Online Tournament Launched
PokerStars first great success started a year before Moneymaker’s triumph. In 2002, PokerStars held the first World Championship of Online Poker, the online equivalent of the WSOP. The event success proved online series could compete with live poker.
Hello Europe, Hello World
In 2004, PokerStars launched their own live tournament series, the European Poker Tour. Unlike the WSOP, which is held once a year in Las Vegas, the EPT debut season ran from September 2004 to March 2005 and had seven stops across Europe at one-month intervals: Barcelona, London, Dublin, Copenhagen, Deauville, Vienna and Monte Carlo. PokerStars skillfully promoted EPT as it positioned poker as a game in which players compete for big cash prizes at popular tourist destinations.
Back in the USA
April 15, 2011, “Black Friday” occurred when the U.S. Attorney's Office shut down Pokerstars.com for violating federal bank fraud and money laundering laws. In July 2012, the US government dismissed all civil complaints against PokerStars. However, PokerStars was dominating online poker worldwide without the U.S. market.
In 2016, PokerStars joined the legal U.S. online poker rebirth in New Jersey. In 2018 they entered Pennsylvania, and in 2021, Michigan.
Live Poker Tours
PokerStars sponsors various live poker tours ongoing including the European Poker Tour, Asia Pacific Poker Tour, Latin American Poker Tour, North American Poker Tour, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, and many more. PokerStars is by far the most successful poker operation in the world.
In October 2019, PokerStars, was acquired by Flutter Entertainment for $6 billion.