PokerStars Account Terms

Opening your account

Click Join and follow the instructions. You must enter your first and last name, home address, email address and date of birth, then choose a username and secret password. The details you give us must be true, accurate and kept up to date.

You must be at least 18. Your account must be opened in your own name, by your own choice and only for your personal use. It must never be sold or transferred, and you must not acquire another person's account.

Only one account is allowed per person. If we find additional accounts, the duplicate accounts are closed and one account remains open. If duplicates were opened deliberately or fraudulently, all of your accounts are closed.

Keep your username, password and other login details secret. Tell us as soon as you suspect or discover unauthorised use. You are responsible for activity under your login details unless it was directly caused by our failure to use reasonable care and skill.

When you create the account, you must set daily, weekly and monthly deposit limits.

How verification works

We may ask for information or documents during registration or at any later time. Checks may cover your identity, address, age, circumstances and funds. We may request a passport, driving licence or other government-issued photo ID, utility bills or bank statements. We may also ask you to join a phone or video call or to record a playing session.

Deposits reaching EUR 2,000 or more within any rolling 180 days trigger a mandatory identity and address check, and no withdrawal or transfer leaves your account until it is done. Delaying information requested for an investigation may delay a withdrawal. Refusing a verification request is a prohibited event.

Where can you play

People in prohibited jurisdictions must not deposit or play for real money. The restrictions also apply while you are travelling or otherwise located there.

Never try to get around a location check. Manipulating location information, using a VPN or giving false or misleading residence details is a prohibited event.

Depositing your own money

Use a payment card, account or wallet held in your own name. We may ask you to prove that its name matches the name on your PokerStars account. The money must belong to you and must not come from criminal or other unlawful activity. Cards or wallets that are stolen, cloned or used without permission are forbidden.

The minimum deposit is $10 unless a particular payment method states otherwise. A deposit becomes available after your bank or payment method authorises it. We cannot guarantee how long that authorisation will take.

We do not operate as a bank. Your balance does not earn interest, and we do not provide credit. Player balances are held in segregated accounts and are not used for our operating expenses.

Converting currency

Where conversion is available, we use the mid-market exchange rate plus a small margin, although we may waive that margin for some transactions. You are responsible for checking the offered rate before you continue because rates may differ by transaction and change with currency movements.

Requesting a withdrawal

Ask for a withdrawal whenever you like, even during a self-exclusion. Most requests usually go through quickly. A request is held back while any deposit faces a chargeback, a reversal or another cancellation claim, and while we still investigate a service fault or a prohibited event.

Funds normally return to the payment method used for the deposit. For each method, we apply withdrawals to the oldest deposit first and the newest deposit last. If the original method is no longer available, we use another method agreed by us.

Available withdrawal methods depend on your country of residence. Processing times also vary by method. We make reasonable efforts to process transfers in a timely way, but estimates and completion times are not guaranteed.

Transfers between players

Player transfers are only for playing real-money games. Send one only by your own choice and only when you know the recipient. Transferred money cannot be withdrawn directly and must first be used to play, while resulting winnings may be reviewed and may require verification before withdrawal.

When an account becomes inactive

An account with a positive balance becomes inactive after 13 consecutive months without logging in or out and without any transaction. We will email you at least 30 days before the inactive period begins.

If you do not respond or reactivate within that notice period, we deduct EUR 5 each month as an administrative fee for as long as the balance stays positive. Once the balance reaches 0, the account is closed. An account inactive because of self-exclusion is not charged until the self-exclusion period ends.

Closing your account

You can ask us to close your account at any time through Support. We may also close it for any reason at our discretion by giving reasonable notice. A positive balance is returned when the account closes unless we have a right to delay it, void related transactions or recover or withhold funds under these terms.

Conduct that puts your account at risk

False or misleading details, deliberate or fraudulent duplicate accounts, fraudulent chargebacks, unlawful deposits, attempts to bypass location checks and refusal to complete verification are prohibited events.

When we suspect one, we will restrict or suspend the account, or access to certain games, for as long as our investigation runs.

Once we confirm a prohibited event, we will permanently restrict or close the account. We may also inform other Flutter Group companies, which can then restrict, suspend or close your accounts there.

Your responsibility for taxes

You are responsible for reporting winnings and losses where the law or an authority requires it. You must also pay any tax due on funds or prizes received through PokerStars. We do not give tax, regulatory or legal advice.

Making a complaint

Start with our contact form or the Help Center. We will give you an outcome within 10 days after you lodge the complaint. For complex cases we let you know inside those 10 days and give a final answer no later than 20 days after you filed it.

After our final decision, you may refer an unresolved complaint to eCOGRA for alternative dispute resolution. If you are not satisfied with that ruling, you may contact the Malta Gaming Authority Player Support Unit.

Who is your contract with

For the real-money services covered here, your contract is with TSG Interactive Gaming Europe Limited, registered in Malta under No. C54266. It operates under licence MGA/B2C/213/2011 from the Malta Gaming Authority. These terms are governed by Maltese law.

These terms can be updated, for example to fix an error, to follow changes in our services or practices, or because the law or a regulator requires it. If a change is significant, we will tell you what changed and ask you to accept the new terms before you continue using PokerStars. Disagree with a change? Stop using PokerStars and ask us to pay out any positive balance.