PokerStars Refunding PKR Players: Returning Money Dollar-for-Dollar

A couple of months ago, PKR has announced the room was shutting down, with players suddenly locked out of their accounts and unable to access their funds. Not surprisingly, this created a number of concerns in the community, especially given the fact Microgaming network made it clear that PKR was solely responsible for players’ deposits, and that network wouldn’t be doing anything to make players whole save for technical support.

For that reason, the recent announcement by PokerStars comes as great news for everyone with their money locked at PKR. Namely, PokerStars will be refunding all PKR players 100%, returning all the money that’s been locked away after the shutdown.

Simple refund process for PKR players

As Eric Hollreiser, Amaya VP for Corporate Communications explained, the company has come to terms with the court-appointed administrator overseeing the PKR case to refund all the players through their PokerStars account.

According to the press release all former PKR customers, some 60,000 of them, will get their funds back, dollar-for-dollar, paid out to their PokerStars accounts with no strings attached. The money will be available for withdrawal or playing, whatever players decide to do with it.

What about those without PokerStars accounts?

The company understands that most PKR players also have accounts with PokerStars. However, those who don’t have nothing to be worried about. They’ll simply need to create a new account and the money will be paid to the newly created account.

All players, those with and without PokerStars accounts will be receiving email notifications in the upcoming days advising them on the steps they need to take to receive their refunds. According to the press release, the entire process should be fairly simple and painless.

PokerStars saves the day again?

Most of us still remembers the whole Full Tilt debacle that left players in a similar position, not knowing what would happen with the funds stuck in a limbo. It was PokerStars that came to the rescue, buying out the defunct room and returning all the players’ money.

Did you have a PKR account when it shut down? Good news. We’re making those funds available soon… https://t.co/Q4ZMlHx9Tx pic.twitter.com/V2yIA0UskP

— PokerStars (@PokerStars) July 6, 2017

Now, Amaya-owned PokerStars comes through again, and this time around they don’t have a direct financial motivation to do so. The room has no ties to PKR and no inherent responsibility. However, the PR announcing this welcome news explains the company feels that PokerStars, as the industry leader, has a responsibility to lead by example.

Marketing stunt or something else?

Lately, PokerStars has been getting a lot of bad press, with many players accusing them they abandoned the original values and are in it for a cash grab. However, this latest decision is bound to bring them some good will with the community.

The fact is, PokerStars didn’t have to do this, and they could have left 60,000 players to wait for the court resolution, which would probably result in them getting cents on a dollar after a few years wait.

Of course, the room does expect this will generate some active players who will decide to play with the money instead of withdrawing it. Additionally, it serves to prove PokerStars are the safest and most reliable online poker operator out there.

Will PKR come back?

Although this is great news in terms of players’ money, those who enjoyed playing at PKR will probably be disappointed to hear that the room won’t be coming back online. The company’s announcement made it clear they have no financial interest in PKR and no intentions of acquiring the platform.

Whether this is the final nail in the coffin for the only truly 3D poker room in the market or not remains to be seen. Perhaps some other company will be interested in resurrecting the brand in the future, but for the time being, PKR will remain closed.