For the last three days, the Stars poker platforms in New Jersey have been down and this has raised a major privacy concern among players. PokerStars is one of the major brands that have been affected by this turn of events. Even though the poker sites administrators were kept in the dark on what every stakeholder now wants to consider as “unscheduled maintenance,” they are urging their players not to worry. The shutdown has also affected the poker lovers of Pennsylvania and Michigan.
What we cover
What Is Going On With Started Group Sites?
The players of PokerStars in the states of Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have experienced downtime over the past weekend. Judging by the fact that other Stars Groups sites such as Stars Casino and FoxBet have also been out over the same period, this appears to be a platform configuration issue. For all Stars group players, the past weekend has been obviously boring since they were unable to access tournaments from their player accounts.
Having a betting site go down without any form of prior notice is quite uncommon so the frustration expressed by players is understandable. As of now, there is little information as to the reason why the sites went down and when they are expected to go back live. For the diehard fans of PokerStars MI, PokerStars NJ, and PokerStars PA, the downtime is going to be quite unbearable as they await word on any new developments.
The major concern among players is that the site management no longer has control over the data that customers have shared over the platform. If such personal data is leaked to the wrong hands, the weight of breach might be too great to bear. Even though the management of PokerStars is not offering information to reveal what is going on, they have been ensuring their players that their sites are experiencing technical issues and no data leaks have taken place.
What Next For Pokerstars’ US Sites?
In their last statement that addressed various concerns from their customers and stakeholders concerning the ongoing outage, PokerStars USA reported that by 10AM EST, all their MTTS would be up and running. Until now, the players of PokerStars PA, PokerStars NJ and PokerStars MI, are still unable to log in to the accounts.
This is however not the first time that a poker site has been down for an extended period of time. In December 2021, the players of Ignition Poker and Bovada went without betting services from their provider for two days. Comparing the mood then and now, the management of those sites took time to offer a comprehensive report to the players offering regular updating on what was happening on the platform backend. Another case of downtime that was handled well was when BetMGM online casino experienced a blackout during the Super Bowl.
The silence of PokerStars on this issue is heightening anxiety levels among players, especially those that have made poker a part of their daily routine. There are obviously a lot of questions running through the minds of players, including; is their money safe and will this outage create loopholes through which their private data will be stolen?
Human Psychology in Uncertainty
It is normal for the human mind to imagine the worst when some details regarding a certain situation are missing. This is obviously the issue that is making the wait unbearable for the players of PokerStars who have no idea what to make of the impending downtime. For the most part, human beings thrive on information – even though you have no good news to share with them, the mere fact that you made yourself available for a briefing gets rid of any doubts they might have.
When such a scenario took place a while back, the reaction of the players registered on the affected platforms was totally different. The major defining factor was that the brands took to social media to update their customers on what they already knew about the situation and what they were working on. A single tweet or status update per day is not enough to calm the storm of confusion at such a moment. Even the simple act of continually offering assurance to account owners that their deposits and winnings were safe goes a long way in discouraging a negative atmosphere.
Perhaps the management of PokerStars has a different way of dealing with this unfortunate incident but time is of the essence here. The longer they go without communicating with their customers, the more anxiety they are going to be fuelling. Some players may decide to stick around until operations resume because they have deposits in their accounts but the rest will simply move on to gamble on other poker platforms.
It is interesting to note that different operators have their own way of dealing with a crisis of this nature but the customer’s demands are more or less uniform across the board. Considering the competitive nature of the gambling industry, it may take time for lost customers to be won back. Even the most successful casino brands struggle with retention of customers amid ordinary competition.
It is highly likely that PokerStars management have nothing to say because they, like everybody else, have no idea what is happening. If that were the case, they should have laid out their plan to investigate and restore platform operations.
If you are a PokerStars registered player looking for updates, the company’s social media accounts will not give anything to calm your nerves. This is the time to look to sites that publish updates on unreported corporate issues as you try your hand on other platforms.
Final Thoughts
It is normal for systems to fail but customers want updates on what is being done to correct the situation. Perhaps the current PokerStars management has no idea how to handle the situation with their customers but public news and opinion should paint a clear picture of their role when such an incident has taken place.
