Hi 2+2,
Today we made a number of important changes to the Multi-Currency Features at PokerStars, in order to address some of the concerns raised by our players.
First of all, PokerStars has changed the way in which our exchange rates are determined, as follows:
Margin Waiver for Game Play: Officially, the rate is still calculated by adding 1% to the Reuters mid-market rate. However, PokerStars will now waive this margin, as long as the funds are used to play the games, not for currency speculation or any other purpose. Effectively,
this means that currency conversions performed in the PokerStars client will use the Reuters mid-market rate without any adjustments.
Margin Waiver for Deposits and Cashouts: PokerStars will use Reuters’ mid-market rate without any adjustments for any deposits or cashouts that are performed in a supported account currency (US Dollars, Euro, British Pounds or Canadian Dollars – see below for more information). For deposits and cashouts in other currencies, PokerStars will waive 0.5% of the margin (making the effective margin 0.5%).
Exceptions: PokerStars’ Multi-Currency features are strictly for playing the games offered. PokerStars is not a foreign-exchange service or bureau de change. The PokerStars Security department will be actively monitoring for abuse of the features, and we reserve the right to retroactively apply the full 1% margin to currency exchanges where there is a reasonable suspicion of abuse.
Today’s release moves Multi-Currency Support at PokerStars into the Release Candidate stage. This means that the multi-currency offering is feature-complete, but there is a chance that some bugs remain. We may also make a few small tweaks before the official release, which we expect to be in late February.
Here’s a summary of the new software features:
Seamless Conversion: This feature is designed to simplify the multi-currency system for those of you who don’t want manual control over each currency conversion. If you choose to use this feature, every time a conversion is required, it will be done automatically in the background, without any extra pop-ups or notifications. You can activate this feature by going to ‘Options’ > ‘Multi-Currency Options...’ and checking the box marked ‘Convert currencies automatically, without confirmation’.
Keep Funds in a Single Currency: This feature was actually introduced in December’s client release, and is aimed at those of you who want to keep all of your money in a single currency, but still play the multi-currency games. If you choose to use this feature, every time you leave a ring game, win a prize in a tournament, or unregister from a tournament, the money will be credited to your
preferred currency, and automatically converted if necessary. For example, if your preferred currency is US Dollars, but you win money in a Euro tournament, the prize will automatically converted to US Dollars and credited to your US Dollar account (instead of being credited in Euro, which is the default behaviour). You can activate this feature by going to ‘Options’ > ‘Multi-Currency Options...’ and checking the box marked ‘Credit Funds in My Preferred Currency When Leaving a Game’.
Support for Accounts in British Pounds and Canadian Dollars: It will be possible to keep money in any combination of four currencies: US Dollars ($, USD), Euro (€, EUR), British Pounds (£, GBP) or Canadian Dollars (C$, CAD). Note that we do not intend to offer games in GBP or CAD at this stage, and will make the decision later based on what we learn from offering Euro games.
You can find further information about the multi-currency features on our web site, here:
http://www.pokerstars.com/real-money/multi-currency/ .
Let me know if you have any questions or feedback.
Best Regards,
Alex Scott
PokerStars Poker Room Management Team
Two Plus Two
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