The Stars Group Grants Refunds after Outage

The Stars Group (TSG) has refunded PokerStars players after a server outage that left players in limbo during the hours-long brown-out.

PokerStars Experiences another Outage

On Friday, gaming and online gambling leader The Stars Group (TSG) experienced a several-hour server outage for the second week in a row. The company issued an apology to its player base and offered full reimbursement for PokerStars players. This unfortunate event comes in the heels of the company’s recent sponsorship deal with Brazilian esports team FURIA.

The apology and reimbursement was announced on Sunday by TSG Managing Director Séverin Rasset. In a Twitter post, Mr. Rasset apologized for the several-hour gameplay and service interruption and noted the need for reliability on the part of TSG. He also clarified that all customers would receive a full refund of their buy-ins.

Many PokerStars players have already received their refunds, although players in Belgium, the Czech Republic and Sweden are still awaiting theirs due to local regulations. PokerStars must act in accordance with these regulations, so refunds might take some time to be processed.

“Thank you very much for supporting us and for your loyalty. We are working hard to make sure that it does not happen again.”

Séverin Rasset, TSG Managing Director

Second Week in a Row

This week’s technical difficulties come only very shortly after another outage that happened last week during an important tournament. On 29 November, the game server crashed for a short time during the main event of PokerStars’ Micro Millions tournament, which featured a $22 buy-in and a guaranteed and substantial prize pool of $1m.

The crash left participants unable to play for just about an hour. However, the game clock refused to halt, which led to a significant incremental rise that left players at a notable disadvantage once the game resumed.

Affected players voiced their displeasure on social media after PokerStars’ refusal to cancel the event and refund buy-ins for affected players. This time around, PokerStars cancelled all ongoing tournaments and carried out refunds in full.

Upcoming Annual Tournament

PokerStars recently introduced significant changes to its matching system to provide a more comfortable environment for its players. This move, coupled with the game’s recent tournaments, should help prepare players for PokerStars’ upcoming annual Blowout Series, which will be held during the month of December

This year, the tournament offers a substantial guarantee of $60m – the biggest guarantee in its history. The amount is $10m higher than the previous year. The number of events has also been expanded to 268 and each event averages at around $224,000.