PokerStars Sets New Record, Fantasy Sports Scandal: October's Biggest Poker News

PokerStars made headlines on October 5 by setting a new Guinness World Record for the most participants in a single tournament. The Common Cents tournament attracted an astonishing 253,698 players, each contributing $0.01 to create a prize pool of $2,536.98. The winner, Austrian player Simon “DaDumon” Grabenschweiger, took home $10,000 after a 6.5-hour battle. The previous record was set in 2013 when a $1 tournament on PokerStars drew 225,000 participants.

The Ministry of Finance of Russia is developing a bill to prohibit banks from processing payments to unlicensed gambling and lottery organizers. According to a representative of the Ministry, Russian citizens are prohibited from participating in gambling and lotteries, both within Russia and abroad, even if the foreign platform has a local license.

In early October, a scandal erupted in the USA involving DraftKings and FanDuel, two major fantasy sports sites. Ethan Haskell, a mid-level manager at DraftKings, published data about players that users frequently selected in a tournament, giving him an unfair advantage. This incident sparked comparisons to insider trading, where one market participant has an unfair advantage over others. The Nevada authorities classified fantasy sports as gambling, requiring all companies providing such services to obtain a license.