PokerStars sister sites in a nutshell
PokerStars is the world’s best-known poker brand, and the “sister sites” question has a two-part answer. The domains on its UK licence that look like sister sites, its casino and its sportsbook, aren’t separate brands at all: they’re PokerStars itself wearing different hats. The real PokerStars sister sites are its stablemates in the Flutter Entertainment group: Paddy Power, Betfair, Sky Bet, Sky Vegas and tombola.
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At a glance
Brand reviewed
PokerStars (pokerstars.uk), online since 2001
Operator
Stars Interactive Limited (Isle of Man), part of Flutter Entertainment
UKGC account
39108 (covers PokerStars poker, casino and sports)
UK status
UK-licensed and GAMSTOP-registered; legitimate for UK players
Products
Poker, casino and sportsbook, all under one PokerStars account
Welcome offer
Poker: £200 from a £20 deposit (code STARS200); casino: a £50 Slotlist bonus
Best sister sites
Flutter stablemates: Paddy Power, Betfair, Sky Bet, Sky Vegas, tombola
Last checked
14 July 2026
The PokerStars sister sites
First, a clarification, because there’s something that often trips people up. Search the Gambling Commission register for PokerStars’ operator and you’ll find six domains on one licence: pokerstars.uk, pokerstarscasino.uk, pokerstarssports.uk, betstars.uk and two Full Tilt addresses. None of those are sister sites. They’re all the same PokerStars operation, its casino and sportsbook wings, plus the old Full Tilt and BetStars names it has absorbed over the years, run by one company on one account. The actual sister sites sit a level up, in the Flutter Entertainment group that owns PokerStars: Paddy Power, Betfair, Sky Bet, Sky Vegas and tombola, with the American giant FanDuel the group’s biggest brand of all. The important nuance is that these are sisters by shared ownership, not by shared licence: each runs on its own UK Gambling Commission account and its own operating company, so an account, a limit or a self-exclusion set at PokerStars does not automatically carry across to any of them. The five profiled below are the UK stablemates worth knowing.
Paddy Power
- The cheeky all-rounder: Flutter’s irreverent bookmaker, offering sports, casino, games and bingo under one famously loud brand.
- Its own licence: Run by PPB Games Limited on Gambling Commission account 39411, separate from PokerStars’ own.
- Twinned with Betfair: Paddy Power and Betfair merged in 2016 and share the tightest bond in the group, ahead of PokerStars.
- Read the tone carefully: The jokey branding can make ordinary betting terms feel lighter than they are, so judge it on the cashier and rules, not the personality.
- Who it suits: Sports-led players who want casino and bingo on the side; full write-up linked below.
Betfair
- The betting exchange: Betfair’s signature is letting punters bet against each other on a central exchange rather than against a bookmaker, cutting out the traditional margin.
- Separate operating company: Run by PPB Entertainment Limited on its own UKGC account, sharing Flutter ownership with PokerStars.
- Exchange plus sportsbook: It offers a conventional sportsbook and casino alongside the exchange, so you can use as much or as little of it as you like.
- Its own twin is Paddy Power: Betfair’s closest sister site is Paddy Power, the two forming the group’s betting core.
- Who it suits: Bettors who want exchange pricing and don’t mind a steeper learning curve.
Sky Bet
- The mass-market bookmaker: Sky Betting & Gaming’s flagship, one of Britain’s most-used sports apps, now under the Flutter umbrella.
- Its own sports licence: Operated by SBG Sports Limited on account 67370, distinct from the Sky casino licence and from PokerStars.
- Shared login, split licences: One Sky account reaches Sky Vegas and Sky Casino too, but those sit on a different licence, so protections don’t automatically span them.
- Cashier to check: The Sky brands are stricter on payments than PokerStars, with no e-wallets, so confirm your method before depositing.
- Who it suits: Football-first bettors who like a slick, familiar app.
Sky Vegas
- The casino wing of Sky: A slots and live casino brand rather than a sportsbook, and the closest Flutter sister to PokerStars’ casino side.
- Bonne Terre licence: Operated by Bonne Terre Gaming Limited on account 65519, which also covers Sky Casino, Sky Bingo and Sky Poker.
- Wager-free welcome: Its free-spin welcome winnings come with no wagering requirement, a truly player-friendly touch.
- Same group, own protections: Flutter-owned like PokerStars, but a self-exclusion here is a separate action from one on the PokerStars licence.
- Who it suits: Slots players who want a big, trusted UK casino name.
tombola
- The bingo specialist: Britain’s best-known bingo brand, built on its own proprietary platform rather than a bought-in one.
- Its own licence: Run by Tombola (International) Plc on account 38613, wholly owned by Flutter since 2022.
- The quiet, safe corner: Known for a calmer, low-pressure feel, with Tombola Arcade its one same-licence twin.
- Furthest from poker: The least like PokerStars of the family, which is rather the point if bingo is what you’re after.
- Who it suits: Bingo players who want a gentle, self-contained site.
How this review was made
What was checked, when and how, so you can judge the page on its evidence. Our full approach is on the About Us page.
Written by: Rob Hill
Research method: Personally tested from a UK connection. The live PokerStars site was reviewed across its poker, casino, and sports sections, its welcome offers, cashier, and footer licensing, and the UK Gambling Commission register entry for account 39108 was checked directly, including its domain list. An account was opened, and a small deposit played through for testing.
Checked on: 14 July 2026, on a Windows laptop using Google Chrome
Operator: Stars Interactive Limited (Isle of Man), a Flutter Entertainment company; the site’s footer states that “PokerStars is a brand of the Flutter Group”
UKGC account: 39108, verified live on the Gambling Commission register, with no regulatory actions recorded against it. View the entry.
Sources checked: PokerStars’ homepage and casino lobby, the poker and casino welcome-offer terms, the UK deposit and withdrawal method table, the footer licensing statement and IBAS ADR; the UKGC register entry for 39108 and its six domains; and our own reviews of Paddy Power, Betfair, Sky Bet, Sky Vegas and tombola. Companies House: the operator is an Isle of Man company, so not applicable.
Change log: 14 July 2026, first published version.
A poker giant with a casino and a sportsbook attached
PokerStars has been the centre of online poker since 2001, and it still leads with the game that made it: the top navigation runs Poker, Casino, Sports, but poker is plainly the home turf, with cash games, Spin & Go, the Power Path progression to live events, and the tournaments that built the brand. If you came for poker, this is the deepest site in the world, and no other brand I’ve covered on this site competes with it on that.
The casino and sportsbook are proper, capable products rather than token add-ons, but they come across as extensions of a poker site rather than its main event. The casino carries the usual slots, live tables, jackpots and a Slotlist of monthly exclusives, and the sportsbook (the old BetStars, now folded into PokerStars Sports) covers the mainstream markets. The one practical thing to hold onto is that all three share a single Stars Account and a single licence, so your balance, your limits and your history span poker, casino and sport together. That’s convenient, and it’s also why those casino and sports domains aren’t separate sister sites: they’re the same account seen through different doors.
Ownership, licensing and the UK position
PokerStars is refreshingly open about who runs it. The footer names the operator as Stars Interactive Limited, based in Onchan on the Isle of Man, under the holding company Rational Intellectual Holdings, and states that “PokerStars is a brand of the Flutter Group”. That’s the key to the whole family: Flutter Entertainment, the world’s largest online gambling company, acquired PokerStars’ parent, The Stars Group, in 2020, which is how the poker brand ended up sharing a corporate roof with Paddy Power, Betfair, Sky Bet and tombola. In Britain it holds Gambling Commission licence 39108, takes part in GAMSTOP, uses IBAS as its independent dispute service, and keeps customer funds in segregated accounts.
On its own record, PokerStars is clean: the 39108 licence carries no regulatory actions. It’s fair, though, to note the company it keeps. The wider Flutter group has been on the Gambling Commission’s radar in recent years, with a £490,000 penalty in 2023 and, in December 2025, a £2,000,000 settlement agreed across four Flutter companies over failings in how customers showing signs of harm were identified. Those actions attach to the specific licensed companies involved, not to PokerStars’ own account, but they’re a fair reminder that even the biggest, best-resourced operators get things wrong, and that the group protecting your money is the same one the regulator has recently corrected.
For a UK player, the bottom line is positive and simple: this is a properly licensed, GAMSTOP-participating brand with real oversight and an independent complaints route. The single structural point to remember is the one from the cards: the Flutter sisters are separate licensees, so a limit or self-exclusion on PokerStars covers PokerStars, not automatically Paddy Power, Sky Vegas or the rest. If you want the protection to span them, you set it on each.
✓UKGC Licensed, Stars Interactive Limited (39108), click to verify
The welcome offers, and how they actually pay out
Because PokerStars is two things at once, it runs two different welcomes. The poker offer is the headline: deposit £20 or more with the code STARS200 and you can unlock up to £200. The catch is in how it releases, in £5 instalments for every 100 redemption points you earn through real play, with no withdrawal of the bonus during the release period. It isn’t a bonus you “clear” with a single wagering multiple; it’s a rakeback-style reward that drips out as you put volume through the tables, so its real value depends entirely on how much you play. Frequent players do well from it; a casual depositor may see only a fraction.
The casino side runs a separate £50 Slotlist welcome tied to a monthly exclusive game. It’s opt-in, the deposit and wagering must be completed within three days, the bonus converts to cash through the same redemption-points system, and winnings are capped at 20 times the bonus. That 20x figure is a cap on what you can win, not a wagering requirement, so it doesn’t run foul of the 10x wagering ceiling UK casinos have had to sit under since January 2026; but it does mean the casino welcome, like the poker one, rewards sustained play rather than a quick flutter. Read either offer as a loyalty mechanism, not a free £200 or £50, and you’ll judge it correctly.
Deposits, withdrawals and the cashier
The cashier is a strong point, and is more open than some of the Sky brands. For UK players it supports Visa and Mastercard debit, Pay By Bank, Skrill and Skrill 1-Tap, and Neteller, with Maestro for deposits and wire transfer available on the way out. Having Skrill and Neteller in the mix is worth flagging: several Flutter stablemates drop e-wallets entirely, so if that’s how you like to move money, PokerStars is the more accommodating of the group. Minimum deposits sit around the £10 mark, and a Fast Deposit feature lets you top up straight from the table.
Withdrawals return to the method you deposited with, and, as at any licensed UK operator, they’re released only once identity verification is complete. That KYC step is where the friction tends to show up in practice, and it’s the part of the cashier that draws the most player complaints, covered in the next section. PokerStars is broad, e-wallet-friendly and convenient on deposits, standard on withdrawals, with verification the main thing that can slow a payout.
Support and complaints
Support runs through a large help centre and email via the Stars Account team, backed by live chat within the client. There’s no headline customer support phone number, which for a brand this size is a little surprising, but the self-service help is extensive and the account tools are mature.
On complaints, the UK licence gives you a path beyond the operator: PokerStars uses IBAS as its independent alternative dispute resolution service, with the Gambling Commission as regulator above that. If a dispute can’t be settled directly, that external route exists and costs you nothing to use, which is exactly the backstop a licensed UK brand should provide and an unregulated one can’t.
What players make of it
PokerStars carries the weight of a 20-year reputation, and the picture is mixed in the way big, long-running brands usually are. On the positive side, it’s widely trusted, the poker product is regarded as the best in the world, and its formal complaint handling is solid: independent trackers record a high resolution rate on casino disputes, with most cases closed inside about a week. Plenty of players deposit, play and withdraw for years without incident.
The recurring complaint, and it’s a familiar one, is about account restrictions and verification. A number of players describe accounts being frozen or reviewed at the point of withdrawal, drawn-out KYC requests, and the occasional account closure that they felt came without clear cause. Some of this is the ordinary friction of a heavily regulated operator doing its anti-money-laundering and affordability job; some of it clearly frustrates people who feel they’ve done nothing wrong. The fair summary is that PokerStars pays and resolves disputes at a rate that shames most of the market, but its checks can be stringent, so keep your account details current and your verification documents ready, and the cashier will treat you better for it.
What I like, and what I don’t
What I like
- A full UKGC licence, GAMSTOP, IBAS dispute resolution and segregated player funds.
- The world’s best-reviewed poker room, with a capable casino and sportsbook on the same account.
- An e-wallet-friendly cashier, including Skrill and Neteller that some sister sites refuse.
- Clear ownership and a strong, well-evidenced complaint resolution record.
What I don’t
- Welcome offers that drip out through redemption points, worth far less to a casual player than the headline.
- Recurring complaints about account freezes and stringent verification at withdrawal.
- No customer support phone line for a brand of this scale.
- A Flutter group record that includes a £2m 2025 settlement, even if PokerStars’ own licence is clean.
My PokerStars verdict: the poker name, the Flutter family
PokerStars is exactly what its reputation says: the definitive online poker brand, now with a casino and sportsbook riding on the same account, all of it properly UK-licensed, GAMSTOP-registered and backed by IBAS. If poker is your reason to play, nothing here comes close to it, and the casino and sports are useful extras rather than traps. The caveats are ordinary: welcome offers built for regulars rather than casual depositors, a verification process that can be stern at withdrawal, and a parent group whose recent regulatory record isn’t spotless, even though PokerStars’ own licence is.
On the sister sites question specifically, the takeaway is that the PokerStars casino and sportsbook you might mistake for siblings are just PokerStars, while the real relatives are the Flutter names, each on its own licence and worth judging on its own terms. Among them, pick by what you actually want to play: Paddy Power or Betfair for sport, Sky Vegas for slots, tombola for bingo, and the poker table right here.
PokerStars sister sites FAQ: your questions answered
What are PokerStars’ sister sites?
Its true sister sites are its Flutter Entertainment stablemates: Paddy Power, Betfair, Sky Bet, Sky Vegas and tombola, with FanDuel the group’s biggest brand internationally. Each runs on its own UK Gambling Commission licence; they’re sisters through shared ownership by Flutter, not through a shared licence.
Are PokerStars Casino and PokerStars Sports sister sites?
No. PokerStars Casino, PokerStars Sports (the former BetStars) and the old Full Tilt are all the same PokerStars operation, run by Stars Interactive Limited on one licence, account 39108. They’re different sections of one brand and one account, not separate sister sites.
Who owns PokerStars?
It’s operated by Stars Interactive Limited of the Isle of Man and owned by Flutter Entertainment, the world’s largest online gambling company, which acquired PokerStars’ parent, The Stars Group, in 2020. The site’s own footer states that “PokerStars is a brand of the Flutter Group”.
Is PokerStars legal and safe for UK players?
Yes. It holds UK Gambling Commission licence 39108 with no regulatory actions against it, takes part in GAMSTOP, uses IBAS for independent dispute resolution and keeps player funds in segregated accounts. It’s a legitimate, well-protected UK brand.
Does a PokerStars self-exclusion cover Paddy Power or Sky Vegas?
Not automatically. Although they share the Flutter parent, PokerStars and each of its sisters run on separate licences and operating companies, so a limit or self-exclusion set on PokerStars applies to PokerStars only. To cover a sister brand, you would need to set it there too, or use GAMSTOP, which spans all UK-licensed operators.