Responsible Gaming

Mission statement

PokerStars strives to assist and protect players who are at risk of the potential negative effects of gaming through a number of means, including self-exclusion tools, guidance on responsible gaming, risk identification and player verification.

What we can do to help you

Age verification

Any underage player who has provided dishonest or inaccurate information regarding their true age may have all winnings forfeited and could face criminal prosecution.

Every person signing up for a new account must check a box that indicates that they are at least 18 years of age. This notifies everybody that we don’t accept players under 18.
When a player creates an account with us, we collect their name, address, and birth date to confirm that the player is at least 18-years-old.
We do not target underage players with our marketing and advertising. It is neither good business nor consistent with our personal and corporate values to attract underage players.
We are a member of the All India Gaming Federation ("AIGF"), with the purpose of self-regulating all Online Games of Skill within the territory of the Republic of India. The AIGF Charter can be found here.

If you have children or teenagers in your household, take extra care to secure your computer and mobile devices.

All Windows computers can be set up to have password control so that you must enter a password to get to the desktop, and mobile devices can be set up to require a passcode to unlock. In general, this is a good practice, but it’s even more important when there are children or teenagers in your household. Also, keep your username and password private. You can elect to have the software not remember your password each time you log-in. If you have any concern that somebody else might attempt to access your Stars Account, you should not allow the software to remember your password.
If you have children or teenagers in your household, use protection software that allows you to limit the websites to which they have access, prevent file sharing, and generally give you detailed control over how your children use the Internet. Here is a list of some of those programs:

If you are aware of an underage person using our platform, let us know. Simply send an email to Support and we will get right on it. Our first step is to investigate, and if warranted, freeze the player’s account and request identification from that player. We take these reports seriously.
Be a responsible parent. In many ways, this is nothing more than keeping your eyes and ears open. If you hear your children talking about online game accounts, deposits, and withdrawals, start asking questions. If you see the software on your child's computer, uninstall it and ask more questions. A responsible parent is the best start to preventing underage gaming.

Self-exclusion

If you believe that playing games might be a hindrance to your life rather than a form of entertainment, we want to help you. First, please review the following questions:

1. Did you ever lose time from work or school due to playing?
2. Has playing caused you to neglect your own welfare or that of your family?
3. Have you ever sold anything or borrowed money to finance your playing?
4. Have you often played until your last rupee was gone?
5. Have you ever played longer than you had planned?
6. Have you ever considered self-destruction or suicide as a result of your playing?

If you answered “Yes” to several of these questions, we encourage you to send us an email to We Care. We will get back to you as quickly as possible.

Also, we provide you with the ability to exclude yourself from playing for various periods of time.

To do this, go to the main lobby of the desktop software, select ‘More’ > ‘Tools’ > ‘Responsible Gaming’ > ‘Exclude me from playing’ ⁱ. On mobile, go to ‘More’ > ‘Settings & Tools’ > ‘Responsible Gaming’. On the website, login then go to ‘Account’ > ‘Responsible Gaming’.

Self-exclude your account

Please note that all self-exclusions and time outs are irreversible for the duration of the specified time. In addition, all self-exclusion periods are inclusive of all games. Your self-exclusion will apply to your Stars Account, and to any product that requires your username to play, and covers both real money and play money activity.

If you want to block yourself from a particular game, go to the main lobby of the desktop software, select ‘More’ > ‘Tools’ > ‘Responsible Gaming’ > ‘Restrict Table Limit’ ⁱ and set your limit to ‘Don’t play’.

We offer 12-hour and 24-hour cooling off periods as well as 7 day, 30 day, 60 day, and 120 day time out periods. You will not be able to play any games that we offer for real money or play money on our software. Once you click the button that requests a time out or a self-exclusion period, you will be asked to close all tables at which you're playing. You will be automatically unregistered from any online tournament that begins during the time out and self-exclusion period, with your buy-in refunded per our normal policy. If you are still playing when the self-exclusion period begins, you will not be forced to close the software, but will receive a pop-up asking you to do so – the exclusion period will begin once the software is closed. You will be able to login, access the cashier and shop at the Rewards Store, but you will not be able to play with or deposit into your Stars Account. If you have won a seat in a live, brick-and-mortar tournament that begins during the exclusion period, you will still be able to play it. You will not receive any marketing emails or newsletters from us.
6-month self-exclusion. This is identical to the other time out periods, except that we will ask you to withdraw any real money funds from your Stars Account. In addition, you will not be automatically reinstated. If you want to return to playing with us, you can email Support any time after your self-exclusion period has passed.
Self-exclusions longer than 6 months, and permanent self-exclusions. If you wish to self-exclude yourself longer than 6 months, or permanently self-exclude yourself, please contact Support.
Self-exclusion during tournaments.

Players who self-exclude themselves during a tournament will still be able to complete any tournament already in progress in which they are playing.
Multi-Day Tournaments: Players who request to be self-excluded from playing during a ‘qualifying for Day 2’ of a ‘Multi-Day Tournament’ will still be able to play in that tournament on any subsequent day of that tournament, even after their period of self-exclusion begins. Players who choose not to play on subsequent days will receive no compensation.
Phased Tournaments: Players who request to be self-excluded from playing during a phased tournament will not be able to complete the next phase of the tournament. Make sure you can play the tournament in its entirety before entering the first phase.
Please also note that if you win any prizes resulting from any offer that may have started prior to your self-exclusion (i.e. automatic drawings to live events, or live activities), they may be forfeited.

What you can do to help yourself

Identify and reduce the risks

If you choose to play online, there are some general guidelines that can help make your playing experience safer, and reduce the risk of problems occurring:

Play for entertainment, and not as a way of making money.
Play with money that you can afford to lose. Never use money that you need for important things such as food, rent, bills, or tuition.
Set deposit limits and ensure you never deposit more than you can afford to lose.
Never chase losses. If you lose money, don't play higher stakes to try and recoup your losses.
Don't play when you are upset, tired, or depressed. It is difficult to make good decisions when you are feeling down.
Balance your playing with other activities. Find other forms of entertainment so playing does not become too big a part of your life.

Setting limits

We offer you the option to set different Responsible Gaming limits to help you play responsibly. You can set these limits by following these instructions, depending on how you are accessing our service:

Website

Desktop Client

Mobile App

After logging in go to ‘Menu’ (Android) or ‘More’ (iOS), then ‘Settings & Tools’ > ‘Responsible Gaming’

Set limits on your real money deposits

We believe that you should be allowed to manage your own budget for playing online. We allow you to restrict your own weekly real money deposit limits. Of course, those limits may be no higher than the ones we already have for your account.

Set deposit limits

Restricting cash game table limits and tournament limits

Setting table limits and tournament limits provides individual players with an opportunity to control their spending by limiting themselves from playing certain table limit stakes, as well as tournament buy-in limits.

Set game limits

Restricting withdrawal cancelation

You have the option to restrict yourself from cancelling your withdrawals once they have been requested. You can apply this by going to the main lobby in our desktop client and selecting ‘More’ > ‘Tools’ > ‘Responsible Gaming’ > ‘Restrict Withdrawal Cancellation’ ⁱ.

If you activate this feature, you will disable your ability to cancel pending withdrawals on your account and we will not cancel your withdrawals at your request. This restriction is permanent and it will not be possible to restore your ability to cancel your withdrawals once you have activated it.

If you want any restriction in place permanently or for a designated time, please contact Support with your request.

ⁱ if you don’t see the “Tool” menu, please, check under “More”