SOUTHERN EUROPEAN PLAYERS GENERATE €17.7 MILLION IN POKERSTARS SPRING CHAMPIONSHIP OF ONLINE POKER

More than 54,000 players enjoyed the iconic shared liquidity market tournament

ONCHAN, Isle of Man – April 23, 2019 – The first Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) for PokerStars’ Southern Europe shared liquidity market surpassed its advertised €15 million prize pool guarantee to reach €17.7 million. More than 54,000 unique players joined the online felt across a 290-event schedule from March 24 to April 11, more than each of the recent Southern Europe Carnaval Series and the Galactic Series.

France led the pack in terms of number of players, with Spain and Portugal taking second and third, respectively. It was Spain’s players who ultimately took the crown, however, earning the most titles of all nationalities taking part. The €250 buy-in Main Event reached a total prize pool of €1,151,340 with ‘TimeForPlanBtc’ beating a field of 4,952 entries for more than €120,000.

“It was a major achievement to increase Southern Europe’s SCOOP prize pool guarantee from €10 million in 2018 to €15 million in 2019, thanks to the addition of Portugal to the shared liquidity of France and Spain this time around,” said Severin Rasset, Director of Poker Innovation and Operations at The Stars Group. “It has been an enjoyable period for our players and we are delighted with its success. We hope that Italy will join soon so we can continue to improve the offer for all players of these markets.”

Meanwhile, Italy’s SCOOP series was the biggest SCOOP ever held in the country. The 10th edition exceeded its €5 million guarantee to reach €5.7 million, with more than 25,000 players enjoying the 126-event schedule. The €250 buy-in Main Event on April 7 also broke its advertised €500,000 guarantee, reaching €583,650.

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