PokerStars Catches Football Fever Ahead of FIFA World Cup
June 8, 2018 2:39 pm
Excitement has steadily been building for the 2018 FIFA World Cup scheduled to get underway in Russia next week, with the world’s biggest soccer competition expected to draw a global television audience of more than three billion people. Over the past few months, PokerStars has also been playing its part in creating a buzz around the month long sporting extravaganza, and has introduced a range of football-related promotions to add to the festive occasion.
A few weeks back, for instance, the operator announced its ‘Stars £100 Million Challenge’ in which the huge sum will be awarded to anyone who can precisely predict the win-lose-draw results for all 64 matches played between June 14 and July 15. Less than a week away from the World Cup’s official kick-off, and PokerStars has now launched yet another product, this time based on its Spin & Go theme, and aptly called Spin & Goal.
Spin & Goal
The operator’s latest soccer-related product, like Spin & Gos, awards a randomly selected multiplier ranging from 2x up to 240,000x its buy-in, meaning someone entering the $5 tournament will have the chance to walk away richer by almost $1 million, while the two runners up will receive $100,000 a piece. Furthermore, those PokerStars customers opening an account post-June 1st will already have received five Spin & Goal Freeroll tickets, while existing players can claim two freeroll tickets simply by entering the Star Code “SPINGOAL”.
In addition to monetary prizes, players can also win ‘Free Bets’ that can then be used on the brand’s online betting sportsbook called BetStars.
Stars £100 Million Challenge
The promotion that for obvious reasons has caused the greatest stir, however, is the ‘Stars £100 Million Challenge’, which is free-to-enter on PokerStars, BetStars and PokerStars Casino. The promotion is open to just those players from the U.K, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, but all entries have to be made before the World Cup’s opening match between Russia and Saudi Arabia on June 14th.
Helping to promote the competition is former England international cricketer Freddie Flintoff, who now becomes the brand’s first ambassador across all of its poker, casino and sports betting platforms. Commenting upon the contest whose top prize is the biggest in sports betting history, Rafi Ashkenazi, CEO of The Stars Group, stated:
“This summer we’re living up to our ambition of becoming the world’s favorite iGaming destination by offering our customers the chance to win one of the biggest prizes in sports betting history. The Stars £100 Million Challenge will also allow us to become part of the enormous global betting interest in the World Cup and will make The Stars Group the place to be while watching the action this summer.”
Football-Themed Slots
Football fever has spread across all of PokerStars‘ gambling platforms, including PokerStars Casino which has launched Matchday Millions, a slot game that shares a massive progressive jackpot prize with Millionaires Island and Stars Mega Spin. The minimum jackpot payout offered by the proprietary slot is a cool $1 million, with Bo Wänghammar, Managing Director of PokerStars Casino, expressing his hope that Matchday Millions will help boost the platforms millionaire tally to thirteen by the end of the World Cup.
Another World Cup-inspired slot game available for play is Stars Lineup, which comes complete with a four-level jackpot system, including Mini $50, Midi $500, Super $5K, to the Mega $100K.
PokerStars Soccer Connection
Over the years, PokerStars has sponsored numerous professional sports people in order to help promote the brand around the world, including from the world of tennis (Rafael Nadal, Boris Becker), hockey (Fatima Moreira de Melo), and athletics (Usain Bolt). PokerStars has also enjoyed a close association with many of soccer’s most accomplished players, whose fans number in the millions, such as Neymar Jr, Ronaldo Luís Nazário, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
While no longer sponsored by PokerStars, Brazilian striker Ronaldo Luís Nazário won two World Cups with his national side, whereas Neymar Jr reached the final of the 2014 World Cup, but ultimately had to endure a grueling 7-1 defeat in front of the Brazilian home crowd at the hands of Germany.
Nevertheless, Brazil and Germany have won the competition more than any other sides, with the former’s victories coming in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002, and the latter’s in 1954, 1974, 1990, 2014. Needless to say, these teams remain the bookies favorite to lift the trophy on July 15th, with Brazil odds around 4-1, and Germany’s 9-2. Meanwhile, Spain is not too far adrift on 13-2, while anyone tempted to bet on Argentina can expect to receive odds of around 9-1.