PokerStars no longer offering real money games in Israel

As of June 27, the world's largest online poker room PokerStars no longer offers real money online poker games in Israel, one of the world’s 'gray markets' for the popular online game. The decision has been made after pressure from the Israeli banking regulator on financial institutions demanding they stop processing online gambling transactions.

PokerStars informed all the players via e-mail.

You can see the full real text of such mails below:

"Our management team regularly review our operations market-by-market to assess commercial opportunities and business risks for our brands. Following a recent review, we regret to inform you that we have decided to stop offering real money games to players who are physically located in - or have a registered address in - Israel from June 27, 2016. We apologize for this inconvenience and hope you’ve enjoyed your experience - we invite you to continue playing with your existing account on our play money site here.

Player balances remain safe and secure, and players are able to withdraw their real money balances at their convenience.

You will be able to withdraw to your Visa card or WebMoney account providing you have used them to deposit within the last 12 months. If you have not, you will need to deposit with them before June 27 to be able to do so".

There is no official information from Amaya Gaming yet, but the situation is widely discussed and some rumors do already exist at poker forums. For example, they guess the reason is that poker players from Israel won much more often than others, or maybe in anti-Semitism mood. But the main idea is that PokerStars decided to start legal business in Israel, that’s why they had to stop the shadow one to begin negotiations about legal opening of poker room with casino and slots in the country.

The most amusing thing about this situation is that PokerStars was founded by two Israelis - Isai and Mark Scheinberg.