PokerStars UK review

Is PokerStars legit?

PokerStars is an online casino that’s legit for UK players to join. The Gambling Commission has issued parent company Flutter Entertainment with a licence to operate legally in the UK.

PokerStars is a very good online casino in the UK. Some of their best features include:

• Big bonus for new UK players
• Quick withdrawal times
• Slots and games that are exclusive

Read our full PokerStars Casino review as we cover everything about this site so you can decide if you want to play.

PokerStars casino bonus

New players from the UK can get the following casino bonus at PokerStars Casino:

• 100% up to £500 + 50 free spins (bonus code: FIRST500)

New casino players only. Min deposit £20 with ‘FIRST500’ required. Max deposit £500. 5 redemption points per £1 required to convert Casino Instant Bonus into cash. Casino Instant and Free Spins expire in 7 days. Selected Slots only. Terms apply. 18+ Play responsibly. BeGambleAware.org

T&C's apply

Bonus terms & wagering

Like most first deposit bonuses, there is a wagering requirement for the deposit bonus. To complete the wagering requirements, you must earn 5 Redemption Points for every £1 of casino bonus you get.

For example:

• £20 bonus = Earn 100 Redemption Points (20 x 5 = 100)
• £100 bonus = Earn 500 Redemptions Points (100 x 5 = 500)

Exactly how many Redemption Points you get depends on the slot game you play. You can check their site for more information on this.

The minimum deposit to get this PokerStars casino bonus is £20. However, you can only deposit using debit card (Visa/Mastercard) to get the offer. This is slightly disappointing because it excludes many other popular payment methods.

Bonus code

You must use the code FIRST500 to get the deposit bonus from PokerStars.

Remember to quote this code when making your first payment or you might miss the offer.

Free spins

The free spins can be used to play a variety of slots and are given as soon as you make a qualifying first deposit. Each spin is worth £0.20 so the total amount is worth £10.

You need to earn 2 Redemption Points for every £1 you win to convert any winnings into real money. There’s a maximum win of £100. You must complete use and complete the wagering requirements within 7 days of the free spins being issued.

Promotions for existing players

PokerStars Casino have a separate Promotions webpage where they offer extra treats to their existing players.

There are plenty of options available which are constantly changing. Here are a few examples of what you can expect:

• Tournaments, leaderboards & challenges: You can go head-to-head against fellow players by competing in the many PokerStars tournaments. Win cash prizes and more.
• Rewards program: All players will benefit from the Rewards program. Every now and then, you’ll receive a random offer in your account – as shown in the image above.
• Bonus code for existing players: PokerStars sometimes use bonus codes for existing players too. You may find promotions that have a dedicated bonus code for current players on their site. It’ll be made very clear in the offer’s details.

Deposit methods

You can use the following methods to deposit at PokerStars Casino in the UK:

PokerStars does not offer PayPal. This is a major downside as many British players prefer to play at casinos that accept PayPal to fund their accounts.

Deposit limits

The minimum deposit at PokerStars Casino UK is £7. However, this is only possible if using Paysafecard or Neosurf. All other methods have a minimum deposit amount of £8.

There are also set limits in the UK based on each player’s age:

If you reach your limit then you’ll need to wait until the next month to be able to make further deposits. Of course, you can set lower deposit limits too if you want.

PokerStars withdrawal time UK

The average time it takes to receive a withdrawal from PokerStars Casino is between a few hours up to 5 business days overall. All UK withdrawals need to be approved which usually takes 24 hours or less. But if extra verification documents are needed then it could take longer.

Once approved, the withdrawal time often depends on which payout method you use:

• Visa: Within 24 hours
• MuchBetter: Within 24 hours
• Neteller: Within 24 hours
• Skrill: Within 24 hours
• Mastercard: Up to 5 days
• Apple Pay/Google Pay: Up to 5 days
• Bank Transfer: Up to 5 days

Despite being an online casino that accepts bank transfer, the withdrawals are not processed instantly. If you want to get access to your money as quickly as possible then select one of the quicker withdrawal methods.

NOTE: Withdrawals are automatically credited back to your deposit method. If not available, you must use bank transfer.

Our PokerStars withdrawal review

For us, our entire withdrawal took less than 5 hours from start to finish which is around the same level as the current fastest payout casinos in the UK.

As you can see in the image above:

• Payout requested: 19:05 UK time on 9th September
• Money in our account: End of 9th September
• Overall PokerStars withdrawal time: Less than 5 hours

As we had deposited using our Visa card, we needed to return the money to this card. But luckily, PokerStars is a Visa fast withdrawal casino. This means payouts to eligible Visa cards are done within 24 hours but often even quicker.

Slots & games

There are 1000+ slots and casino games you can play at PokerStars UK. Compared with our other top 50 online casinos UK, this is a pretty good number – despite not being the biggest we’ve ever seen. There should be plenty of games available to keep you entertained.

The slots and games are provided by leading developers:

• NetEnt
• Red Tiger
• Microgaming
• Playtech
• Push Gaming
• Quickspin
• Relax Gaming
• & more

There are exclusive slots and games available at PokerStars Casino UK as well. This means you can’t play these games anywhere else – so there’s something a bit unique.

One of the downsides is the game library filters as it can be difficult to find what you want to play. There are filters such as the latest releases and most played games. You can also use a search bar to find a specific game or provider. But compared with other casinos, they are quite basic – so this could be improved.

Live casino

There are 120+ live dealer games available at PokerStars UK. This is one of the biggest collections that we’ve seen which is great. You can play games like:

• Roulette
• Blackjack
• Game Shows
• Baccarat
• Poker variations
• & more

All you need to do is decide what you want to play and open the game. You will be connected to a video stream of a real dealer where you can place your bets.

All of the live games at PokerStars Casino UK are provided by the popular Evolution Gaming, Playtech, and Pragmatic Play.

Mobile & interface

When doing this PokerStars Casino review, we used our smartphone as most players use these devices to play. The experience was pretty good as the site adapts easily to smaller screens.

Pretty much all the features you find on desktop are also available on mobile – such as bonuses, payment methods, and most games. A small number of games might not be available as they use outdated technology. But this is something PokerStars can’t do anything about.

You can access the site using your mobile device’s web browser with no problem. You may also download the PokerStars Casino app on both Apple and Android. However, we found no real advantage of using the app as the experience was pretty much exactly the same as the browser.

One of the most interesting things is that PokerStars is one of the independent online casinos in the UK. These sites are popular as they run on their own platform. This has made it easy to create unique features that are not found on other sites – such as the promotions for existing players, exclusive games, and more.

PokerStars verification

To comply with their UK licence, PokerStars Casino UK must verify the identity of all their British players. You will not be able to play until this is confirmed.

Sometimes PokerStars can be a no verification casino UK. This is when they try to verify each player automatically (by matching your personal information with a few databases).

But this doesn’t always work. For example, when we signed up ourselves, we received the following message:

So we needed to send in documents ourselves. The usual PokerStars verification documentation includes:

• Proof of payment information
• Proof of your age and ID
• Proof of your address

You may also be asked for more documentation if you make a withdrawal. But PokerStars will explain this if it applies to you.

How long does PokerStars verification take?

If PokerStars manage to verify you automatically then the entire process will take just a few seconds.  However, if PokerStars verification does not happen automatically then it can take longer.

We were manually verified the same day we sent our documents. But it can take longer in some cases.

The key is to send clear and up-to-date copies of documents that PokerStars request. This should reduce the time it takes for their team to manually verify you.

Customer support

The help team at PokerStars Casino is on hand 24 hours a day to settle any issues.

The first place to look is the FAQs section as you can find detailed answers to common questions here. They cover all aspects of the site too – such as deposits and withdrawing, promotions, verification, and more.

If you need further help then you can contact their support team via:

• Live chat
• Email
• Online form
• Twitter (@StarsSupport)

The live chat option is good as you can get answers in real time. But it’s only available if you’re logged in, so you can’t ask a question before signing up which is slightly disappointing.

For email, it usually takes a few days to receive a reply. This is also the case when using the online form as they will reply to you via email too.

They’ve also set up a Twitter account (@StarsSupport) which is dedicated to providing customer support. They generally reply within a few hours by sending a direct message.

PokerStars UK summary

Overall, PokerStars is a very good option for online casino players in the UK and is on our list of the current top 20 UK casinos.

There are over 1000 different slots and games to play – with some of these games being exclusive. You can easily deposit and withdraw using a range of payment methods and our payout speed of 5 hours is pretty quick too. However, not offering the popular PayPal is a big downside.

The casino bonus is decent for British players. Having no wagering on the no deposit bonus is a really good feature – although adding back wagering requirements for the deposit bonus was disappointing to see.

If you do give them a go, remember to add to the PokerStars Casino reviews from our readers on this page.