World’s biggest poker room PokerStars announced that it would implement further changes to its VIP Club and the way players are rewarded. Although the brand did not say when this will happen exactly, it pointed out that its current VIP Club will be replaced with a new one “sometime in 2017.”
One of the most important changes to be introduced, if not the most important, would be the fact that rewards will no longer be based on players’ monthly and annual statuses. In addition, the new rewards system will include PokerStars’ sportsbook and casino offering, as well. In other words, gambling customers who have registered with the popular brand will be rewarded not only based on their activity in poker games but for other activities, too.
Eric Hollreiser, Vice President of Corporate Communications at PokerStars and parent company Amaya Inc., explained in the poker room’s blog that given the fact that the current VIP Club rewards players on a monthly basis and resets their progress at the beginning of each month, it is difficult for recreational players to enjoy more benefits from playing at PokerStars. However, the new rewards system will eliminate the monthly progress evaluation and will replace it with more personalized rewards based on recent playing activity.
The Supernova status, which under the current system is an annual one, will become monthly as of January 1, 2017 and up until the new rewards program comes into effect. PokerStars said that it has begun informing its Supernova players for the upcoming changes.
The first set of significant changes to PokerStars’ VIP Club was rolled out on January 1, 2016. The online card room’s most active players did not welcome those as they eliminated the SuperNova Elite rank and seriously reduced rewards for Supernova players. There was also a wave of general discontent due to the fact that VIP Club members were not informed in due manner and were, thus, given little time to adapt to the new rewards program. PokerStars announced that it would revamp its VIP system late last year. As a result, some of its Team Pro members spoke vocally against the changes. There were also players, with Isaac Haxton being among those, who even left PokerStars Team Pro Online.
