Pokerstars active in Canada?

09/02/2010

The Toronto Sun publishing an interesting article this week, claiming that online poker site Pokerstars has 'set up shop' in Canada, and that the poker giant's software, which has dealt over 48 billion hands, was developed in Richmond Hill, Ontario by PYR Software, a firm created by PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg in 2000.

Scheinberg, a former programmer himself, had worked with IBM in Canada and Israel before he and his son Mark started the world's largest online poker enterprise.

The Sun article claims that the Pokerstars server is hosted in the Kahnawake Mohawk First Nation reserve near Montreal in Quebec.

"The partnership has proved lucrative for the Kahnawake, which just this week announced plans to tap into its online gaming revenues to fund a multi-million-dollar wind energy farm project with a U.K. based company," the Toronto Sun reveals.

John Pliniussen. a business professor and online gambling expert at Queen?s University, told the newspaper that he wouldn?t be surprised to see more local online gambling servers pop up on First Nation reserves as bands look to capitalise on the online gambling movement.

?It?s fair game. That?s where the action is,? he said.

US government moves to stifle online gambling via the prosecution of processors and the UIGEA appear to have had little effect on Pokerstars, which continues to service US players and has issued a statement claiming: ?As reflected in legal opinions provided to PokerStars, its activities in the U.S. are and at all times have been lawful."

Today, PokerStars has an estimated 38 million members, annual revenue of $1.4 billion and some $500 million in profits, according to Forbes magazine.

Globally, online poker is a $4.8-billion annual business, according to H2 Gambling Capital. PokerStars enjoys 35% of that market.