PokerStars Casino

PokerStars Casino was founded in 2015, with the initial intention to offer casino games to the poker player within the poker download client. Given the very good response, the company decided to invest and develop the casino further into a web based client, to become its own brand aimed at pure casino players.

Currently hosting around 200 games from different game providers like Net Entertainment and Evolution, PokerStars Casino is continuously developing and adding more games/providers  to become a complete competitive casino brand by Q3-Q4 of 2016. One of the main objectives of PokerStars Casino is to offer a variety of well-known games as well as unique game variants.

Software and Games

PokerStars Casino offers games from a variety of well-known and established game providers. The slot count is still quite low compared to many casinos but this is set to increase to around 200 by the end of the year. One can currently find all-time favourites from Net Entertainment like Gonzo Quest and Twin Spin, a selection of NYX slots like Foxin Wins and many other slots from Leander Games, BluePrint, IGT (Wagerworks), Quickspin, Odobo and iSoftBet.

PokerStars Casino also provides a substantial range of in-house built virtual table games like Atlantic City, Blackjack, Double Ball Roulette, Heads Up Holdem and other classic variants of both Blackjack and Roulette. On a separate tab, players can also find in-house built 5 video poker variants like Jacks or Better, Joker Poker and Deuces Wild.

PokerStars Casino has invested  in its live casino offering, choosing Evolution, leading live casino game provider, to offer unique branded Pokerstars tables. The live casino games offered are roulette, blackjack and baccarat. All are accessible in instant play mode as well as download however there is one small drawback that in order to access these tables, a player needs to have money in his account. Also there are times during the day when the games are a bit slow to load.

PokerStars Casino Bonuses

Any information on promotional offers is current at the time of writing and may be out of date. More current bonus information can be found in the bonus area on this page.

At the time of writing new players are awarded with a welcome bonus consisting of a deposit match on their first ever deposit using the bonus code ‘MATCH’.

The way this bonus works is slightly different than other casinos. In order to clear the bonus, players must earn ‘Starcoin’. The bonus is released to the player in increments of $10 and at the clearance rate of 4 Starcoin for every $1 wagered. Each game has a different Starcoin to $ conversion value and one can find the full list of games and their Starcoin value in this table. The good thing about this bonus is that all games count towards bonus wagering, whereas some casinos usually remove table games and video poker. StarCoins can also be used to redeem against items in the loyalty store where you can find bonuses, poker tournament entries, cash, gifts, gadgets and merchandise.

Since Dec-15, each month, there is a different promotion which goes on throughout the month. For example, during Apr-16, the promotion of the month is ‘Casino Daily Deals’. The monthly promotions are usually on an opt-in basis and players need to complete an action to earn a bonus.

More promotions/bonus possibilities will be introduced as part of the planned set of improvements which will take place in the latter part of 2016.

Customer Service

PokerStars Casino provides a detailed FAQ section, which is divided into different section according to its topic, thus allowing very easy navigation. In case players wish to speak to a member of Customer Support, they can send an email at : support@pokerstars.com . Players can expect to have their emails answered within a 24 hour period.  Live Chat support for Casino is also planned to be introduced by end 2016, initially for VIP players.

Banking

Being part of the world’s largest poker company, PokerStars Casino offers very vast range of payment methods for players worldwide. One can  find all the major credit/debit cards like Mastercard and Visa, bank transfers and E-wallet payment methods like Neteller, Skrill, Entropay and Trustly.  All a player needs to do to find out the exact list of depositing/withdrawal methods available in his country is click on the below link and then find his country in the drop down menu.

Verdict

PokerStars Casino today is still a work in progress so a proper judgement on what is missing compared to other established casinos will most probably be added by the end of 2016/beginning of 2017. Until then one remains very curious to what the absolute leader in poker will be able to do when it comes to casino. A good thing about PokerStars Casino is that the player can rest assured that his funds are in safe hands and never need to worry that a payout won’t be honoured. Also PokerStars is one of the few companies who manages to get a licence in each and every jurisdiction where such licence is required.