Action Begins Returning to PokerStars US Sites After Unexpected Site Shutdowns
Players looking to fire up PokerStars in the legal American markets of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan have been shut out of the action over the last few days.
The operator announced on Feb. 4 that all multi-table tournaments were closed due to “unscheduled site maintenance.” Two days later that expanded to a complete shutdown of the US platforms.
By Tuesday afternoon some cash games and events were returning to each state. However, the site closures left many players scratching their heads as to what was going on.
Going offline
The PokerStars shutdown comes at a time when the legal US online poker market has seen record revenue highs since the pandemic. The disruption of service should certainly affect PokerStars’ revenue numbers for February. But many players will be happy to see the sites slowly begin operating as normal again.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the sites remained locked down with players hoping for a resolution. By mid-afternoon players were reporting action beginning to run again.
The issues arose last Friday and PokerStars took to Twitter to issue an update on the situation.
“Due to unscheduled maintenance, all MTTs (multi-table tournaments) have been canceled until Monday at 10 am EST,” the company noted on Twitter. “Our apologies for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience.”
Despite that, the sites remained shut down even through Monday and beyond tournament play. PokerStars offered another update on Monday, assuring players that they could still access their account.
The company also emphasized that there hadn’t been a data breach of the system,
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Shutdowns bring concern among players
Players certainly weren’t happy with the outage and let the company know via Twitter. Many complained about the extended time needed to resolve the issue.
Some players were concerned about the lack of transparency about the issues involved.
“Instead of giving us generic responses with no information, be honest with your customers and give frequent updates?” one user noted. “Your assurance of anything is meaningless when you give no real info or updates. Down for days sounds like a hacker or ransomware.
Others remained concerned about the possible loss of personal data. PokerStars remained steadfast that this wasn’t an issue.
“We’re very sorry for the extended site downtime,” the company posted in a response to a player. “Rest assured, this is in no way related to any type of site breach – all players’ balances and personal information are completely safe. We hope to be back up ASAP. Thank you for your patience while dealing with this.”