GENERAL CUSTOMER TERMS

The General Terms apply to your access and use of the Services. By clicking to accept the General Terms a contract is created and you will be legally bound by these general customer terms and any additional terms and conditions that form part of these general customer terms, including those listed in Section 4.3 below (we call these additional terms and conditions ‘Rules’). If you don’t agree to the General Terms or any part of them, including the Rules, you shouldn’t access or use the Services or the relevant part of them.

The contract is between you and REEL, and ‘PokerStars/we/us/our’ in the General Terms means REEL.

The Rules are just as important as these general customer terms. You should read the relevant Rules carefully and in full before accepting the General Terms and in any event before using the Services or playing the Games to which the relevant Rules relate.

• Poker Game Rules and Poker Tournament Rules apply whenever you use our poker Services
• Commission Rules apply when you play cash poker Real Money Games
• Home Games Rules apply whenever you use our Home Games Services
• Sports Rules apply whenever you use our Sportsbook Services
• General Promo Terms for sports and poker apply whenever you take part in a promotion, along with any Key Terms relevant to the individual promotion displayed on the Website, Gaming Platform or other communication (such as email)
• Our Withdrawal Policy applies to any withdrawals from or returns to your Account
• Other rules, policies and terms and conditions relating to promotions, Games and other parts of the Services available on the Website from time to time also apply to you

We may change the General Terms at any time, for example to correct information, reflect changes to the Services or our business practices, or to comply with applicable law or a change in our regulatory requirements.  If we make any changes to the General Terms, you will be asked to accept the new version to continue using the Services.

If you don’t agree to the changes then you should stop using the Services and you may request a withdrawal of any positive balance on your Account. We will process that request unless we have a right to delay the withdrawal, void any related transactions, or recover or not pay out any balance, winnings, funds, rewards or other credits under the General Terms.

We encourage you to visit the Website regularly to check the version of the General Terms in force at that time.

To create and use an Account you must:

6.1.1 be at least 18 years of age;

6.1.2 provide us with all information and/or documents that we ask you to provide us with;

6.1.3 not previously have held an Account that has been closed by us for a Prohibited Event, or had an account closed by any other company in Flutter Group for similar reasons;

6.1.4 not currently be self-excluded from the Website (except to the extent you have chosen to self-exclude only from specific Games or parts of the Services); and

6.1.5 not currently be on any list of persons that would prohibit us from offering the Services to you (for example a sanctions list or the list of prohibited players held by the ANJ);

6.1.6 register the Account in your own name, on the basis of your own freely made choice, and solely for your own personal use, entertainment and benefit, not on behalf of or at the direction of anyone else;

6.1.7 hold a payment account opened in your own name using a means of payment with a payment service provider established in a member state of the European Union or a third party state party which has concluded a tax assistance treaty with France; and

6.1.8 reside in a jurisdiction from which we accept Users from time to time and ensure that your use of the Services is lawful in your jurisdiction (we are not able to verify the legality of the Services in every jurisdiction).

We may refuse to open an Account for any legitimate reason (including failure to meet any Account Requirements).

By creating an Account you confirm and promise that: (a) you meet the Account Requirements at the point of registration; (b) you will continue to meet the Account Requirements for so long as you have an active Account; and (c) you will promptly tell us if you stop meeting any of the Account Requirements for any reason.

To create an Account, you must provide your email address and country of residence, and you will also be asked to confirm that you are aged at least 18 years old. To play Real Money Games, you will also need to provide your first and birth name, gender, date and place of birth, home address and bank details.

We may from time-to-time also ask for other information to comply with our legal, regulatory or internal requirements, for example to check you meet the Account Requirements or Deposit Requirements from time-to-time.

You must ensure the details provided by you at registration are true, accurate, and up to date, and that they remain so while you have an active Account. You must promptly tell us about any changes to your details (including those which could impact the use of your Account, such as a change to your email address or bank details). You can do this in your Account.

To meet our regulatory, licence and other legal obligations and business requirements, we may from time to time (including during and/or at any time after registration) ask you to comply with Verification Requests. This could include providing personal details and copies of documentation such as your passport, driving license, other government-issued photo ID, utility bills and/or bank statements, attending phone or video calls, and/or recording playing sessions.

Verification required to complete registration. To complete the Account registration process and play Real Money Games, you will need to comply with the following Verification Requests: You must, either at the time or within 30 days of Account creation, provide us with acceptable copies of the following: (a) both sides of your valid ID, passport, driving license or valid residence permit or resident card as proof of identity and date of birth; (b) a recent valid proof of address (such as a utility bill, latest personal income tax return, insurance card or rental receipt); and (c) a document (such as a bank statement) showing your name and home address, and the details of your payment account and bank address, which must be located in a Member State of the European Union or the European Economic Area.

Temporary Accounts. You will be issued with a temporary Account, and you will not be able to use certain Services (for example you will not be able to play certain Games, make withdrawals from your Account, or participate in shared table Games with players from other jurisdictions), until the verification process described in Section 8.2 above is complete. If we don’t receive the documents described in Section 8.2 above within the 30-day period, then your temporary Account will be suspended. You will not be able to use the Services or withdraw any funds from your Account while it is suspended. We will reactivate your Account if we receive the documents after 30 days, but within 60 days of Account creation. However, if we do not receive the documents within 60 days, then your temporary Account will be automatically closed.

Verification required when you make changes to your Account information. If you need to change any of the information you provided during the Account creation process, you will need to submit documents proving the new information within 30 days of the date you made the change(s). If we don’t receive acceptable documents within the 30-day period, your Account will be suspended. You will not be able to use the Services or withdraw any funds from your Account while it is suspended. We will reactivate your Account if we receive the documents after 30 days, but within 60 days of the date you made the change(s). However, if we do not receive the documents within 60 days, then your Account will be automatically closed. If we identify a discrepancy between the new information and the supporting documents, we will immediately notify you and offer to rectify the information within 7 days of this notification. You will then either rectify the information submitted by accessing your Account or give your consent to us to make the necessary rectification. In the latter case, you must validate the rectification the next time you log in into your Account. If the correction is not made, we will close your Account without delay.

People located in certain jurisdictions (the “Prohibited Jurisdictions”) must not make deposits into their Accounts, play Real Money Games, and/or otherwise access or use the Services. The Prohibited Jurisdictions are notably but not exhaustively: (a) any location which is subject to any trade or economic sanctions, embargos or similar laws or regulations from time to time, such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and the Luhansk, Donetsk and Crimea Regions of the Ukraine; (b) the USA; and (c) any other jurisdictions whose applicable regulations prohibit the use of our Website. These restrictions apply equally to residents of Prohibited Jurisdictions as to residents of other nations when located in a Prohibited Jurisdiction. If you are a resident of another nation and you move or travel to a Prohibited Jurisdiction, you may request a withdrawal of any positive Account balance. We will process that request unless we have a right to delay the withdrawal, void any related transactions, or recover or not pay out any balance, winnings, funds, rewards or other credits under the General Terms. It is a Prohibited Event if we discover or have reason to believe that you are accessing or attempting to access the Services from a Prohibited Jurisdiction.

Certain Games are available for you to play with users from other jurisdictions, who are playing on other licensed PokerStars sites (not the Website). Each such user is subject to the terms and conditions of the site they are playing on, not the Website.

You must not attempt to circumvent the restrictions set out in this Section 9 or any other geographical restrictions related to holding or using an Account. To do so would be a serious breach of the General Terms and therefore a Prohibited Event. An attempt at circumvention includes manipulating the information used by us to identify your location (such as by using a VPN) and/or providing us with false or misleading information about your location or place of residence.

Part B Section 4 and Part B Section 5 explain the Deposit Requirements and general rules about deposits and balances. In addition, the rules set out in this Section 10.2-6 apply. 

You are only able to hold an Account and play Games in EUR and not in any other currency.

You will need to set up 3 different mandatory limits before you will be allowed to use the Services:

10.3.1 before you make your first deposit into your Account, you must set the maximum total amount of deposits that you are able to make over a period of 7 days;

10.3.2 before you place your first wager you must set the maximum total amount of wagers you are able to place over a period of 7 days; and

10.3.3 you must set the amount above which any positive balance in your Account will be automatically transferred to via bank transfer to your registered bank account (so long as you have complied with the relevant Verification Requests). Any amount exceeding this limit will be automatically transferred to your registered bank account. You will not be able to use this money to play. For example, if you set the automatic transfer amount to EUR 500 and your balance reaches EUR 550, EUR 50 will be automatically transferred back to you.

You can increase or decrease the limits described in Section 10.3 at any time via your Account. Decreases will take effect immediately and increases will take effect at the earliest within 48 hours. Please see our Responsible Gaming page for more information about setting limits.

All funds deposited to your Account should be used for betting and wagering or playing Real Money Games. We will, where appropriate, ask you to comply with Verification Requests to check you meet this requirement.

We notify You that the appointed trustee is IQ EQ TRUSTEE SERVICES (IRELAND) LIMITED, 12 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, D02 H798, Ireland. The trust agreement entered into between IQ EQ TRUSTEE SERVICES (IRELAND) LIMITED and REEL Malta covers monies deposited by players in a User account opened via the Site in accordance with French regulation.

You may request a withdrawal from your Account at any time so long as your Account is open, not suspended, and you have complied with any applicable Verification Requests. Part A Section 13.5 explains how withdrawals are processed when a temporary Account with a positive balance has been closed. Part B Section 9 explains how withdrawals and returns are generally processed and when they may be delayed.

Your withdrawals can only be processed via bank transfer to your registered bank account, after you have complied with the relevant Verification Requests (as set out in Part A Section 8.2). Please see our Withdrawal Policy for more information.

Part B Section 14 explains what the Prohibited Events are, and Part B Section 17 explains when we will restrict, suspend or close your Account for Prohibited Events. If we discover that you have engaged in any Prohibited Event then, except where the Prohibited Event is your failure to comply with any of the Verification Requests set out in Part B Section 8.3 or Section 8.4 (which will be dealt with as set out in those Sections), we will:

12.1.1 void any transactions (including, if applicable, bets and purchases of Virtual Items); and/or

12.1.2 freeze all or part of any balance on any Account used by you and any winnings, funds, rewards or other credits awarded to you, in each case to the extent the relevant transactions/balance/winnings/funds/rewards/credits are attributable to such Prohibited Event,

and file a claim before French Courts to confirm the status of the funds related to such Prohibited Event.

You may at any time ask us to close your Account. To do so, please contact us.

Part B Section 17 explains when we will restrict, suspend or close your Account for Prohibited Events and Part B Section 18 sets out some other circumstances when we will close your Account. Without limiting any of that or any other provision of these General Terms, we will close your Account without any delay if:

13.2.1 you do not provide, within the requested timeframe, the documents required to finalise the opening of your Account;

13.2.2 you do not provide, within the requested timeframe, the documents required to update your Account;

13.2.3 after a temporary Account has been opened for you, you provide documents containing information that does not match the information you provided during Account creation (unless this discrepancy is the result of an input error);

13.2.4 after your Account opening has been finalised, you provide for the purpose of rectifying the information associated with your Account, documents whose information does not match the information you provided during Account creation (unless this discrepancy is the result of an input error);

13.2.5 you are banned from gambling;

13.2.6 you have not carried out any gambling or betting activity in the last 12 months.

We may also close your Account at any time for any legitimate by giving you reasonable written notice (which shall not be less than 3 business days) if possible. If we do this we will tell you the reason(s) for this closure.

Nothing in this Section 13 affects our rights under the General Terms to close your Account for other reasons (such as a change in law or regulation, or if you are involved in a Prohibited Event – see Part B Section 17 and Part B Section 18).

How we deal with closed Account balances. If there is a positive balance in your Account at the time of its closure, we will retain those funds for a period of 6 years from the date of the Account’s closure. During this 6-year period you may ask us to return the funds to you. We will process that request once you have complied with the relevant Verification Requests, subject to applicable law and regulation and any rights we have to delay the withdrawal, void any related transactions, or recover or not pay out any balance, winnings, funds, rewards or other credits under the General Terms. If you do not comply with the relevant Verification Requests, then within 3 months before the end of the 6-year period we will deduct a EUR 5 custody and administration fee from the balance (or the balance of your funds, if lower). We will also contact you about any positive balance remaining on your Account, to let you know that the balance will – in accordance with applicable law and regulation – be forfeited to the French State after the end of the 6-year period.

If you need to contact us, either with a general query or to make a complaint, you can do this via the Help Center. You can also use this contact form or send an email to support@starsaccount.fr. Our customer support representatives will ensure your query or complaint is answered or referred to the appropriate specialist team.

Should you feel your complaint has not been satisfactorily handled or resolved by us, then you may, so long as you have been interacting with our customer support team for 20 days or more, refer the matter for alternative dispute resolution through the Online Gaming Ombudsman. You can contact the Online Gaming Ombudsman through the online form or by post at the following address Gaming Ombudsman - ANJ - 11 boulevard Gallieni, 92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux. For more information please visit the Ombudsman website and follow the guidance provided about how to submit a complaint. Our support team will act as internal conciliator for the purpose of the mediation. It should be noted the Online Gaming Mediator may only be contacted once the procedure set out in Section 15.1 have been exhausted.

The historical data of each Real Money Game will be recorded on our servers and in our databases. In the event of any discrepancy between a result displayed on your device and the records on our server or in our databases, our records will prevail in the absence of valid proof to the contrary. You also accept that our “Instant Hand History” and “Hand Replayer” features will not be considered as the official historical record of any hand.

You acknowledge and agree that gambling involves an inherent risk of losing money.

The limit of our liability to you under the General Terms in respect of any one incident or series of related incidents is: (a) where such liability relates to a specific bet or wager, the value of such bet or wager paid by you; or (b) in all other cases, EUR 2,000. This liability limit will not apply in the event of a proven breach of any of our obligations an “inexcusable error” attributable to us as defined by French case law.

We will not be liable under these General Terms if the failure to perform or improper performance of the contract is attributable to you or to the unforeseeable and insurmountable act of a third party unrelated to the provision of the contracted Services, or to a case of force majeure.

You must compensate us for all costs, charges or losses incurred by us as a result of your participation in a Prohibited Event

If, as a result of an Error, Malfunction or Interruption in the Services, your Account is credited with winnings, funds, rewards and/or other credits that you would not have received were it not for that Error, Malfunction or Interruption (“Erroneous Credits”), we will void the relevant transaction and withhold or recover the Erroneous Credits, except in the event of a breach of any of our obligations or in the event of an “inexcusable error” within the meaning of French case law. This applies even if the relevant part of the Services could have produced the same or similar amount of winnings/funds/rewards/credits absent the Error, Malfunction or Interruption and applies whether or not the Error, Malfunction or Interruption was apparent to you or to us at the time. If you have withdrawn any Erroneous Credits, you must pay them back to us as and when we ask you to.

You need to create an Account to use certain Services. You can do this by clicking ‘Join’ and following the on-screen instructions. You will need to choose a Username and secret password.

There is no payment required for downloading or accessing the Services or Software or creating an Account. The costs of playing the Games are set out on the Website and in the Gaming Platform.

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You must maintain the confidentiality and security of your Login Credentials, and not disclose your Login Credentials to anyone. You are solely responsible for all use of the Services under your Login Credentials, whether or not authorised by you (unless such use is directly caused by our failure to exercise reasonable care and skill). If young people are sharing or have access to your devices, you should install parental control software. We recommend that you use a strong password and you change it on a regular basis. You must tell us about any unauthorised use of your Login Credentials or Account as soon as you suspect or become aware of it.

Users are only allowed one, unique Username across all Services. Your Username and any avatar, image or other name you choose to use in connection with the Services must not include any Unauthorised Content. You grant us, for the benefit of Flutter Group, a worldwide, irrevocable, transferable, royalty free, sublicensable license to use those items for any purpose connected with the Services.

You are only allowed to register one Account on the Website, and you must only use the Services with such single Account. Each additional Account will be classified as a “Duplicate Account”.

If we discover that you hold one or more Duplicate Accounts, then (unless you have opened them deliberately or fraudulently) we will close each Duplicate Account, leaving you with only a single Account. Acting reasonably, we will determine which is the Account to leave open, and which are the Duplicate Accounts to close.

If we discover that you have deliberately or fraudulently opened one or more Duplicate Accounts, then that will be a Prohibited Event and we will close all your Accounts and take other appropriate action as set out Part B Section 17 and Part A Section 12.

Subject to the General Terms, you may hold an Account and deposit or withdraw funds to and from it in the currencies and payment methods available on the Website from time to time.

The “Deposit Requirements” are that you must:

4.2.1 make deposits to your Account using a payment card, account or wallet that is held in your own personal name;

4.2.2 if requested, prove that the name on the payment card, account or wallet used to make deposits corresponds to the name used for your Account;

4.2.3 be the rightful owner of the money which you deposit in your Account;

4.2.4 not deposit any money into your Account which originates from criminal or other unlawful or illegal activities, or use such money to make transactions via the Services; and

4.2.5 without limiting any of the above, not use a stolen, cloned or otherwise unauthorised payment method as a source of funds in connection with your Account or any transactions made via the Services.

A minimum and/or a maximum may apply to the amount that you can deposit into your Account in a single transaction using certain payment methods. If applicable, the amounts will be stated on the Website and/or in the Gaming Platform.

Your deposit will be available in your Account as soon as your bank or other payment method authorises the amount you choose to deposit. We give no guarantees about the amount of time needed to complete processing, because it is an Event Beyond Our Control.

Account balances are kept in segregated accounts and are not used by us for operational expenses. This ensures that your funds are always available for you to withdraw in accordance with our banking and security policies and procedures, our license requirements, best practice, and the General Terms.

We are not a bank or financial institution. Monies deposited with us will not accrue interest and we do not offer any credit.

You may only place bets up to the value of the cleared funds in your Account.

We only accept bets made online via the Website and on the Gaming Platform. Bets are not accepted in any other way, including by email, post or phone, and will not be valid if received in such a way.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the details of your bet are correct. Once a bet has been confirmed by us, you cannot cancel or change it without our consent. If you’ve placed a bet and wish to cancel or change it, please contact us before the relevant event upon which the bet is placed has started and we will consider your request, although any decision will be at our reasonable discretion.

No bet is placed unless you receive an on-screen message confirming that it has been received.

If any Real Money Games are available for you to play in a currency which is different to the currency of your Account, then to play them you can add a second currency to your Account. Alternatively, you can simply attempt to join a Game in the currency you would like to add, and we will automatically add the currency and make the conversion for you. With automatic conversion selected, any time that a currency conversion is required it will be performed automatically, and you won’t be notified. A minimum conversion amount will apply, as set out on the Website and/or in the Gaming Platform.

All currency conversions made via the Website and Gaming Platform will take place at the current prevailing rate that we offer for the transaction type in question (this will be notified to you on the Website or Gaming Platform when you make a conversion). Where currency conversion is available, the rate of exchange we offer is the mid-market exchange rate offered by XE plus a small margin (though we may, in our discretion, waive the margin for some types of transactions). The conversion rates will be updated on a regular basis, and it is possible that different rates may be offered depending on the type of transaction and movement in currency value. We may, in our discretion, revoke or withdraw support for any particular currency without notice.

When currency is converted, any cancelled or rejected withdrawals from your Account will be returned to you in the currency and amount you originally requested, not the converted amount (for example, if your Account is in EUR and you tried to withdraw EUR 100 converted to USD, EUR 100 will be returned to your Account). Any cancelled or rejected deposits to your Account will debited from your Account in the converted amount (for example, if your Account is in EUR and you made a deposit in USD, the EUR value will be debited from your Account), and if you don’t have enough funds in your Account to cover the debited amount you will need to top up your Account.

You should be aware of fluctuations in the exchange rate and the impact this could have on your available funds. Where currency conversion is available for your Account, it is your responsibility to check the applicable rates before proceeding with transactions involving currency conversion. We are not responsible for gains or losses incurred by making currency conversions through the Services.

We are not a currency exchange. Where available, currency conversion via your Account is only to facilitate genuine gameplay. You must not use your Account or any other part of the Services to engage in currency trading, speculation or arbitrage (to do so would be a serious breach of the General Terms and therefore a Prohibited Event).

We will take action to help maintain the integrity of any available currency conversion facilities. This could include:

7.6.1 declining or reversing any currency conversion transactions made via your Account;

7.6.2 limiting the number of currencies held in your Account and/or the amount of money that you may convert between currencies;

7.6.3 if permitted by the relevant license, requiring any converted funds in your Account to be used for playing Real Money Games before being withdrawn, transferred (where transfers are available) or used for any other purpose; and/or

7.6.4 retroactively applying any margin which was waived as part of a currency conversion transaction.

Subject to the General Terms (including any right to void any transactions and recover or not pay out any balance, winnings, funds, rewards or other credits under the General Terms), we will credit your Account with your winnings as soon as practicable.

You are solely responsible for reporting your winnings and losses if required by any law, regulation or relevant authority (including any tax authority) applicable to you, and for paying any taxes that may be payable on any funds or prizes awarded to you through your use of the Services. We do not provide advice about tax regulatory or legal matters. If you need any such advice, you should contact appropriate advisors and/or authorities independently.

If any sales or value-added tax applies to any payments made by you in connection with your use of the Services, such payments shall be treated as inclusive of all such tax.

To request a withdrawal, log into your Account and follow the on-screen instructions. The withdrawal methods offered to you vary depending on your country of residence and will be notified to you on the Website and/or in the Gaming Platform. If you need to withdraw an amount which is less than any applicable minimum for a particular payment method, you can either use a different payment method or you can contact us.

Each withdrawal request, and any return to you of funds, will be processed so long as:

9.2.1 all payments made into your Account have been confirmed as cleared and are not the subject of any chargeback, reversal or other cancellation claim; and

9.2.2 there is no ongoing (or, where applicable, completed) investigation into:

a) any Error, Malfunction or Interruption related to your use of the Services; or

b) your involvement in any Prohibited Event.

If there is an ongoing investigation into any Error, Malfunction or Interruption or suspected Prohibited Event related to your use of the Services, the withdrawal will not go through unless and until the investigation has been resolved to our reasonable satisfaction. Part B Section 10 explains when we will void transactions and recover or not pay out winnings, funds, rewards or other credits resulting from any Error, Malfunction or Interruption related to your use of the Services. Part B Section 17 explains when we will restrict, suspend or close your Account or void transactions and recover or not pay out winnings, funds, rewards or other credits attributable to any Prohibited Event. You should read these sections carefully and ensure you understand what they mean for you.

You acknowledge that any delay in providing information we ask for in connection with any investigation may result in a delay to the processing time for the withdrawal or return.

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Withdrawal and return processing times vary according to the type of payment method used. We will make reasonable efforts to ensure that transfers in and out of your Account are processed in a timely manner, but we can’t guarantee the amount of time needed to complete processing (or that any estimates will be processed exactly as described), because it is an Event Beyond Our Control.

Errors, Malfunctions or Interruptions in the Services or Software may or may not be apparent to us or to you at the time, and they may only come to light as and when settlement instructions, Game outcomes, winnings or withdrawal requests are investigated and analysed by us retrospectively. You must not abuse or take advantage of any Error, Malfunction or Interruption which is or becomes apparent to you (for example by exploiting it to obtain winnings). If any Error, Malfunction or Interruption is or becomes apparent to you, or you suspect that it may be occurring to any part of the Services you are using, you must stop using that part of the Services immediately and tell us about it.

You must provide any information we reasonably require in connection with any investigation into any Error, Malfunction, or Interruption.

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If, due to an Interruption, you are disconnected from a multiplayer poker Game, then you will be treated as sitting out and default actions will be taken on your behalf (for example check, fold, or the automatic posting of blinds) until you are able to re-join the relevant Game.

Some Play Money Games include virtual items such as virtual chips (“Virtual Items”). Depending on which (if any) such Game(s) is/are available on the Website, you may be able to “earn” Virtual Items through gameplay and/or “buy” them with real money. These “real world” terms are used figuratively, which means you have no right in or title to any Virtual Items, whether “earned” in a Game or “bought”. Any virtual currency or similar virtual balance shown in your Account (for example in any Play Money Games where the amount of your balance is shown in dollars) does not constitute a real-world balance or reflect any stored value, but instead represents the extent of your license to use the relevant Virtual Items in-Game. If any Game on the Website allows you to “buy” Virtual Items for real money and we send an email confirming how many Virtual Items you have “bought”, you should check it is correct and keep a copy for your records.

Where it is possible to “buy” Virtual items, we may change the pricing for any such Virtual Items at any time. Prices will be stated on the Website, Gaming Platform and/or in the relevant Game.

Virtual Items (where available) are for in-Game use only. You must not sublicense, trade, sell, or transfer Virtual Items for value of any kind outside of the relevant Game, or attempt to do any of these things (to do so would be a serious breach of the General Terms and therefore a Prohibited Event).

Virtual Items (where available) will not be usable if either: (a) the Game in question is withdrawn for any reason; or (b) the Virtual Item in question is withdrawn for any reason. We will try to give you reasonable prior notice of any withdrawal of a Game/Virtual Item. If we do not give you such prior notice for whatever reason, you will be entitled to contact us for a refund of any unused Virtual Items that you have “purchased” with real money (but not where “earned” through gameplay) and which are affected by the withdrawal of the Game/Virtual Item. However, if we give you reasonable prior notice of a withdrawal of a Game or Virtual Item, you will not be entitled to a refund of any affected Virtual Items and we will have no further responsibility to you.

You must not:

12.1.1 engage in any behaviour when using the Services which: (a) is abusive, offensive, malicious, threatening, harassing, insulting, intimidatory, defamatory, racist, discriminatory (including when playing Games or waiting for other Users to make a move in a Game, and in your general interactions with our staff or other Users); (b) is intentionally disruptive (for example by sending multiple and frequent messages to drown out legitimate chat (“flooding”) or repeatedly asking other Users for chips); or (c) could otherwise cause distress, harm or inconvenience to any other person;

12.1.2 use the Services or Software in any way which is fraudulent, dishonest, unlawful, illegal or criminal, or may lead to the encouragement, procurement or carrying out of any fraudulent, dishonest, unlawful, illegal or criminal activity;

12.1.3 use any Prohibited Tools and Services;

12.1.4 take part in any Prohibited Player Assistance Practices or Unethical Play;

12.1.5 directly or indirectly use more than one account (whether an Account or any other Flutter Group account) in the same player or prize pool at the same time (e.g. if you play on or have more than one account open at the same poker table or in the same poker tournament, you buy-in to any Game using more than one account, or you enter into any prize pool with more than one account), whether any play activity actually occurs on any such account or not (this does not affect anything we say elsewhere in the General Terms about Duplicate Accounts);

12.1.6 after elimination from any tournament or prize pool, directly or indirectly re-join the tournament or prize pool using a different Account or any other Flutter Group account;

12.1.7 post or share any Unauthorised Content via any chat facilities or any other part of the Services, or in any correspondence to us;

12.1.8 attempt to bypass any filters we apply to chat facilities on the Services (for example where we asterisk out profanities and other unacceptable words);

12.1.9 make any public statement about any part of the Services or any company in Flutter Group which is untrue or malicious or do anything which could damage the image or reputation of any part of the Services or any company in Flutter Group;

12.1.10 use any part of the Services (or any information gained through it) or any Software for commercial or business purposes; or

12.1.11 attempt to do any of the things listed in Sections 12.1.1 to 12.1.10 above.

Each of these actions is “Unacceptable Conduct”.

You acknowledge and accept that: (i) communications you send via the Services are not private or confidential and may be viewed and used by others accessing the Services; and (ii) we will moderate chat facilities.

We will review chat content, keep a record of all statements made on the chat facility, and take action retrospectively if necessary. Please let us know if you have been a victim of chat abuse. We will keep your complaint anonymous and deal with every case seriously.

We are proud of the products we have created and which we make available to you, and it’s important to us (and our licensors) to protect them. Flutter Group and its licensors are the owners of all rights, title and interest, including all copyright, trade secrets, trademarks and other intellectual property rights, in and to the Services and Software. All such rights are reserved.

Subject to the General Terms we grant you a royalty-free, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable right to install and use the Gaming Platform on your device and to play Games. This license is granted for your private personal use only. You must only use the Services in accordance with their intended functionality and these General Terms.

You must not, except to the extent permitted by applicable laws:

13.3.1 copy, distribute, publish, interfere with, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, modify, or translate the Software or Services in any way;

13.3.2 access the source code of the Software or Services, whether to create derivative works or otherwise;

13.3.3 extract any Software from the Services;

13.3.4 sell, assign, sublicense, transfer, distribute or lease any Software or any part of the Services;

13.3.5 make any Software or any part of the Services available to any third party through a computer network or otherwise;

13.3.6 export any Software or any part of the Services to any country (whether by physical or electronic means);

13.3.7 attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Website or Gaming Platform, the servers on which the Website/Gaming Platform are stored, or any server computer or database connected to the Website or Gaming Platform;

13.3.8 use our trademarks, content or other intellectual property without our permission; or

13.3.9 attempt to do any of the things listed in Sections 13.3.1 to 13.3.8 above.

Each of these actions is an “Unauthorised Use”.

The following are “Prohibited Events”:

14.1.1 if at any time you provide incorrect or misleading registration details for your Account;

14.1.2 if at any time you do not meet or fail to comply with any of the Account Requirements;

14.1.3 if at any time you fail to comply with any Verification Request and/or any other check or request for information reasonably required to meet our legal, regulatory or internal requirements;

14.1.4 if you deliberately or fraudulently open one or more Duplicate Accounts;

14.1.5 if we discover or have reason to believe that the security of your Account has been breached (unless caused directly by our failure to exercise reasonable care and skill), for example because you have failed to maintain the confidentiality and security of your Login Credentials;

14.1.6 if we discover or have reason to believe you have breached the security of someone else’s Account (for example you have used someone else’s Account without their permission);

14.1.7 if at any time you do not meet or fail to comply with any of the Deposit Requirements;

14.1.8 if we receive a fraudulent chargeback and/or return notification via a payment method used on your Account;

14.1.9 if we discover or have reason to believe that you have engaged in any Unacceptable Conduct;

14.1.10 if we discover or have reason to believe that you have engaged in any Unauthorised Use;

14.1.11 if we discover or have reason to believe you have abused or taken advantage of any Error, Malfunction or Interruption;

14.1.12 if you breach the General Terms or any Rules in some other serious way (we give some examples of serious breaches throughout the General Terms – see Part B Section 7.5, Part B Section 11.3, Part B Section 15.1 and Part A Section 9 – but these are not the only ways serious breaches could occur), or you repeatedly breach the General Terms or any Rules in such a way as to reasonably justify the opinion that your conduct is inconsistent with you having the intention or ability to give effect to the General Terms or such Rules.

You must tell us straight away if you suspect or become aware that any Prohibited Event has been or is being committed by any User, and reasonably assist us with any investigation into it (including by providing any information we reasonably request).

We may (in addition to our other rights) take steps to detect and prevent the use of Prohibited Tools and Services and Prohibited Player Assistance Practices. You must not attempt to bypass, interfere with, or block such steps in any way, whether by using software designed for the purpose or otherwise (to do so would be a serious breach of the General Terms and therefore a Prohibited Event).

We do not endorse or provide any guarantees about any Permitted Tools and Services, as they are not within our control. Your use of them is entirely at your own choice, risk and cost.

We will restrict or suspend your Account, your ability to play Games, and/or any other aspect of your access to or use of the Services, where we have reason to believe that you have been involved, or are likely to be involved, in a Prohibited Event.

A “restriction” is where a limitation is placed on your access to or use of a particular product, feature or part of the Services or your Account. An example of a restriction is that if you take part in Unethical Play, we will restrict seating and/or prohibit Users from playing at a particular poker table or in a particular tournament (this may include restricting two or more Users from playing together at the same table or in the same tournament and does not affect any other actions we are allowed to take under the General Terms).

A “suspension” is where you are temporarily prevented from accessing your Account or the Services as a whole.

Your use of the Services/Account will remain restricted/suspended while the matter is investigated and/or until our checks have been completed. If the investigation results in our decision (acting reasonably) that the issue has been resolved to our satisfaction, we will lift the restrictions/suspension (either in full or in part). However, if the investigation results in our decision (acting reasonably) that you have been involved in any Prohibited Event, then we will permanently restrict or close your use of the Services/Account.

If we restrict, suspend or close your use of the Services/Account under this Section 17 then:

17.3.1 we may notify other companies in Flutter Group and any account(s) you hold with them may also be restricted, suspended or closed;

17.3.2 you may be temporarily or permanently excluded from access to services/products offered by other companies in Flutter Group (including live events where applicable); and

17.3.3 we will if appropriate report you to the relevant authorities or other third parties, and/or take legal action against you.

Your funds cannot be accessed or withdrawn during periods of suspension, and any balance will remain in your Account.

If you have engaged in any illegal activity, we are under no obligation to permit you to withdraw or return to you any funds in your Account.

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Except under Part A Section 15, we will not be responsible for any failure or Interruption in or to any part of the Services or the performance of our obligations under the General Terms, or for any other liability or loss, resulting from any Event Beyond Our Control. For example, we are not responsible if your connection or equipment is slower than other Users’, and it affects your performance in time critical products.

We may suspend or cancel all or any part of the Services if, despite making reasonable efforts to do so, we are not able to provide the Services or any part of them due to any Event Beyond Our Control.

The General Terms are personal to you. You may not transfer your rights or obligations under the General Terms to anyone else.

We may transfer any or all of our rights and/or obligations under the General Terms to another company in Flutter Group or any other legal entity (for example if we restructure or there is a sale of our business). We will ensure that the transfer will not negatively affect your rights under the General Terms.

If you breach the General Terms and we take no action against you, we will still be entitled to use our rights and remedies in any other situation where you breach the General Terms (including if the same breach happens again).

If there is any inconsistency between the provisions of the various parts of the General Terms, the order of precedence (1 taking highest precedence) is: 1) Part A; 2) Part B; 3) Part C; 4) the summary; 5) the introduction.

The following capitalised words and phrases have the following meanings in the General Terms:

Account: A User account on the Gaming Platform and/or Website (on the Website and in the Gaming Platform also referred to as “Stars Account”).

Account Requirements: The eligibility criteria for creating and using an Account, as set out in Part A Section 6.

Deposit Requirements: Specific deposit-related standards that you are required to meet, as defined in Part B Section 4.2.

Duplicate Account: Any additional Account(s) you open on the Website, as defined in Part B Section 3.1.

Erroneous Credits: These are defined in Part A Section 17.5.

Error: Any omission, incompleteness, mistake or error in or relating to the Services, whether human, technical, administrative, operational, systematic, a combination of any or all of these, or otherwise. For example, the mistaken offer of incorrect prices or terms for participation in a Game.

Event Beyond Our Control: Any event beyond our reasonable control such as: (a) war, terrorist activity, riots, malicious damage, fire, flood, storm, nuclear accident, disease, epidemic or pandemic (such as Covid-19); (b) the actions of any government or authority (including the introduction of any new law, any governmental, authority or court order, rule, regulation or direction, and the refusal or revocation of any license or consent); (c) any defect, outage, slowness, capacity constraint or other deficiency affecting any telecommunications network, internet access service or device used by you to access or use the Services; (d) any delay, failure or suspension affecting any banking network or other payment processing system used in connection with the Services (including any processing delay, reprocessing or reversal of a transaction, or the seizure or freezing of funds by any third party involved in the processing of funds); and (e) any charge or fee applied by your card issuer, bank, wallet provider, or financial institution in connection with your use of the Services.

Flutter Group: The group of companies that are controlled, directly or indirectly, by Flutter Entertainment Plc (including us).

Games: The Real Money Games and Play Money Games (and ‘Game’ means any one of them).

Gaming Platform: The gaming platform(s) made available to you in connection with the Website.

General Terms: these general customer terms and the terms and conditions incorporated into them by reference, including the Rules.

Interruption: Any break in the continuity or uniformity of or disruption, interruption or delay in or to any part of the Services, for example if a Game freezes while you are playing it or you lose internet connectivity.

Login Credentials: Your Username, password, and any other security credentials used to access your Account (such as multi-factor authentication, RSA token data and any PIN, depending on what is available for the Website).

Malfunction: When any technology, software, automated process or set of instructions, data or programs used to execute specific tasks fails to operate as designed or intended. For example, if a virus affects the Services, or when computer hardware or software deviates from its intended performance specifications or parameters or where two pieces of software fail to interface or communicate with each other in the manner designed or intended, in either case producing a result which is not the result that was designed or intended.

Permitted Tools and Services: Any online or offline tool or service used to help improve your performance in a Game, which is not made available by us but is expressly permitted by us for use in connection with the Services, and/or any other tools or services which are expressly permitted by us from time-to-time, as stated on the Website and/or in the Gaming Platform.

Play Money Games: Any “play money” or play for free games available via the Website or Gaming Platform.

PokerStars/we/us/our: The relevant Flutter Group contracting party, as identified in Part A Section 1.

Prohibited Events: Certain events and practices that are not allowed in relation to the Services or Software, as defined in Part B Section 14.1.

Prohibited Jurisdictions: Any locations where use of the Services is prohibited, as defined in Part A Section 9.

Prohibited Player Assistance Practices: In connection with the Services the practices of: (a) datamining hands, results, statistics or feeds (for example observing Games without playing in order to build up a database of hand histories for future reference); (b) using hands, results, statistics or feeds acquired through datamining; or (c) mass sharing hands, results, statistics or feeds for the purpose of analysing opponents.

Prohibited Tools and Services: Any online or offline tool or service (including artificial intelligence, “bots” and other computer programs and software) which is used to execute or assist in the execution of any action relating to the Services and is designed to provide an unfair advantage to Users, including those which: (a) play without human intervention or reduce the requirement of a human to make decisions (for example by helping you decide what action to take in respect of a bet or the exact relative size of any bet or raise, including “auto-folders” and tools that randomise the size of bets); (b) offer real-time advice on what action to take; (c) share hole card data with other Users or services; (d) is targeted towards the manipulation of opponents in Games in which you are unable to choose a specific table to play on; (e) is designed for poker table selection efficiency, for example by filtering or sorting available tournaments, or automating/semi-automating the process of joining available tournaments based on opponent gameplay statistics or notes; (f) is designed for ring game selection efficiency; (g) automate mouse clicking or simulate keyboard input (“auto clickers”); (h) delay a player’s decision by either a specific or randomized amount of time; or (i) during Game play: (i) provide advice beyond a basic level (such as a large collection of tables offering recommendations beyond whether to play certain hands or not in unopened pots); (ii) are designed specifically to ease referral to reference material; or (iii) compute advanced equity calculations, such as range vs range simulators, ICM or Nash Equilibrium-based programs.

Real Money Games: The real money gaming and gambling services available via the Website and Gaming Platform.

Rules: Any additional terms and conditions that form part of the General Terms, including those listed in Part A Section 4.

Services: The Website, Gaming Platform and any Games, promotions and other services made available via the Website and Gaming Platform.

Software: All software underlying the Services (whether downloadable or not).

Unacceptable Conduct: This is defined in Part B Section 12.1.

Unauthorised Content: Any content (including photographs, images and text) which: (a) is offensive, racist, discriminatory, blasphemous, pornographic, obscene, vulgar, profane, indecent, abusive, threatening, harassing, insulting, intimidatory, defamatory, expresses or is liable to incite racism, bigotry or hatred, or is unlawful or illegal; (b) advertises, promotes or otherwise relates to any online or offline ventures, products or services other than the Services; (c) infringes any intellectual property, privacy, image or other rights (for example any content which impersonates any other person or brand or discloses confidential information without permission); (d) is intended or is likely to cause harm or damage to any device, computer system, network or equipment (such as a virus, corrupted file, key logger, ‘Trojan Horse’ or other malicious code); and/or (e) you’re not permitted to use.

Unauthorised Use: This is defined in Part B Section 13.3.

Unethical Play: Cheating, collusion, team play, game manipulation, or other unethical play of any kind when using the Services, including: (a) sharing poker hole cards; (b) playing less aggressively against a partner in a poker Game (“soft playing”); (c) playing a Game a certain way for the benefit of another User, for example by intentionally losing a poker hand in order to deliberately transfer chips to another User (“chip-dumping”); (d) intentionally manipulating play in order to end a poker Game quickly or prematurely (for example “flipping”); (e) card counting (except in peer-to-peer poker Games); and/or (f) during Game play, discussing table strategies, chatting about the hand in play, or engaging in any other communication that might give an advantage to other Users.

User: Any end user of any Services (including you).

Username: The unique username used for your Account login/identity.

Verification Requests: Any request for you to prove you are who you claim to be, including any request for you to prove your identity, addresses, age, circumstances, funds and/or other details.

Virtual Items: Certain virtual items within Games, as defined in Part B Section 11.1.

Website: This is defined in Part A Section 3. 

You/you: You as the User of the Services.

The terms include, including, for example, such as and in particular or any similar expressions used in the General Terms mean something is illustrative only, and they do not limit the scope of the words preceding them.

Headings used in the General Terms are for convenience only, to help you find your way around the document and understand what the relevant section is mainly about. They do not affect the interpretation of the General Terms.