poker

PokerStars.be Online Poker Software Terms of Service

END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

Download End User License Agreement

This end user license agreement (the "Agreement") should be read by you (the "User" or "you") in its entirety prior to your use of the website www.PokerStars.be (the "Site") or any services or products offered on or through the Site. Please note that the Agreement constitutes a legally binding agreement between you and Gambling Management S.A. (referred to herein as "Operator", "us", "our" or "we") which operates the Site under the terms of the applicable gaming license issued by the Belgian Gaming Commission, and is a member of the group of companies owning and operating the Casino of Namur.

We have entered into an agreement with the PokerStars group (the "Service Provider") to use the PokerStars branding and gaming software and to provide certain support and services to us.

In addition to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, please review our Privacy Policy, the Poker Rules, the Real Money Processing and Currency Exchange terms and conditions and the PokerStars Rewards Program as well as the other rules, policies and terms and conditions relating to the games and promotions available on the Site as posted on the Site from time to time, which are incorporated herein by reference, together with such other policies of which you may be notified of by us from time to time.

By clicking the "I Agree" button as part of the software installation process and using the Software (as defined below), you consent to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement, the Privacy Policy, the Poker Rules and the Real Money Processing and Currency Exchange terms and conditions as each may be updated or modified from time to time in accordance with the provisions below and therein.

For the purposes of this Agreement, the definition of "Software" will include the PokerStars poker software downloadable to your personal desktop or laptop computer ("PC") from www.pokerstars.be (the "PC Software") and the PokerStars mobile software application (the "Mobile Software") downloadable to a mobile device (including, without limitation, a cellular phone, PDA, tablet, or any other type of device now existing or hereafter devised) (each, a "Device") as well as all ancillary software to the poker software (whether web-based software or client/server software).

The provisions of this Agreement are entirely subject to applicable law and the terms of the Operator's license issued by the Belgian Gaming Commission.

1. GRANT OF LICENSE/INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
1.1

Subject to the terms and conditions contained herein the Operator grants the User a non-exclusive, personal, non-transferable right to install and use the Software on your PC or Device, as the case may be, in order to access the servers and play the poker games (the "Games") (the Software and Games together being the "Service").

1.2

The Software is licensed to you by the Operator for your private personal use. Please note that the Software is not for use by (i) individuals under 21 years of age, (ii) individuals under the legal age of majority in their jurisdiction and (iii) individuals connecting to the Site from jurisdictions from which it is illegal to do so and (iv) individuals prohibited from playing by the Belgian Gaming Commission. The Operator is not able to verify the legality of the Service in each jurisdiction and it is the User's responsibility to ensure that their use of the Service is lawful.

1.3

We reserve the right at any time to request from you evidence of age in order to ensure that minors are not using the Service. We further reserve the right to suspend or cancel your account and exclude you, temporarily or permanently, from using the Service if satisfactory proof of age is not provided or if we suspect that you are underage.

1.4

The Service Provider and its licensors are the sole holders of all rights in the Software and the Software's code, structure and organisation, including copyright, trade secrets, intellectual property and other rights. You may not within the limits prescribed by applicable laws:

  1. copy, distribute, publish, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, modify, or translate the Software or make any attempt to access the source code to create derivate works of the source code of the Software, or otherwise;
  2. sell, assign, sublicense, transfer, distribute or lease the Software;
  3. make the Software available to any third party through a computer network or otherwise;
  4. export the Software to any country (whether by physical or electronic means); or
  5. use the Software in a manner prohibited by applicable laws or regulations,

(each of the above is an "Unauthorised Use").

The Service Provider reserve any and all rights implied or otherwise, which are not expressly granted to the User hereunder and retain all rights, title and interest in and to the Software.

You agree that you will be solely liable for any damage, costs or expenses arising out of or in connection with the commission by you of any Unauthorised Use. You shall notify the Operator immediately upon becoming aware of the commission by any person of any Unauthorised Use and shall provide the Operator and Service Provider (and all affiliates of the foregoing) with reasonable assistance with any investigations it conducts in light of the information provided by you in this respect.

1.5

The terms "PokerStars", the domain names "pokerstars.be" and "pokerstarsmobile.be" and any other trade marks, service marks, signs, trade names and/or domain names used on the Site and/or the Software from time to time (the "Trade Marks"), are the trade marks, service marks, signs, trade names and/or domain names of the Service Provider, and the Service Provider reserves all rights to such Trade Marks. In addition, all content on the Site, including, but not limited to, the Software, images, pictures, graphics, photographs, animations, videos, music, audio and text (the "Site Content") belongs to the Service Provider and is protected by copyright and/or other intellectual property or other rights. You hereby acknowledge that by using the Service and the Site you obtain no rights in the Site Content and/or the Trade Marks, or any part thereof. Under no circumstances may you use the Site Content and/or the Trade Marks without the prior written consent of the Service Provider.

Additionally, you agree not to do anything that will harm or potentially harm the rights, including the intellectual property rights, held by the Service Provider in the Software, the Trade Marks or the Site Content nor will you do anything that damages the image or reputation of the Service Provider, its employees, directors, officers and consultants.

1.6

You warrant that any names or images used by you in connection with the Site or Service (for example your user name and avatar) shall not infringe the intellectual property rights, privacy or other rights of any third party. You hereby grant the Service Provider and the Operator a worldwide, irrevocable, transferable, royalty free, sublicensable licence to use such names and images for any purpose connected with the Site or Service, subject to the terms of the Privacy Policy.

2. NO WARRANTIES.
2.1

The Operator disclaims any and all warranties, expressed or implied, in connection with the Service which is provided to you "AS IS" and we provide you with no warranty or representation whatsoever regarding its quality, fitness for purpose, completeness or accuracy, other than the ones imposed by the Belgian Gaming Commission.

2.2

Regardless of our efforts to provide you with service of the highest quality, safety and security, we make no warranty that the Service will be uninterrupted, timely or error-free, that defects will be corrected or that the Software and the Site shall be free from viruses, bugs or other contaminants.

2.3

The Operator reserves the right to suspend, discontinue, modify, remove or add to the Service in its absolute discretion with immediate effect and without an obligation to provide you with notice where we consider it necessary to do so, including (for example) where we receive information that you have entered into any self-exclusion agreement with any gambling provider or where we deem it necessary for the management, maintenance or update of the Software and we shall not be liable in any way whatsoever for any loss suffered as a consequence of any decision made by the Operator in this regard.

3. AUTHORITY
3.1

The Operator and the Belgian Gaming Commission retain authority over the issuing, maintenance, and closing of Users' accounts on the Site. Any decision of the Operator, as regards any aspect of a User's account, use of the Service, or dispute resolution, is final and shall not be open to review or appeal.

4. YOUR REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES

Subject to applicable law and the terms of the Operator's license issued by the Belgian Gaming Commission, prior to your use of the Service and on an ongoing basis you represent, warrant, covenant and agree that:

4.1

there is a risk of losing money when using the Service and that the Operator and the Service Provider have no responsibility to you for any such loss.

4.2

your use of the Service is at your sole option, discretion and risk.

4.3

you will need to provide us with certain personal details about yourself (including details regarding your methods of payment) as well as (for the purposes of using the Service via the Mobile Software) consenting to our use of location-based services (LBS) to detect your geographic location, for the purpose of using the Service. The Operator will process your personal details in compliance with and as set out in our Privacy Policy.

4.4

You would be solely responsible for any applicable taxes which may be payable on cash or prizes awarded to you through your using the Service.

4.5

the telecommunications networks and Internet access services required for you to access and use the Service are entirely beyond the control of the Operator and the Operator shall have no liability whatsoever for any outages, slowness, capacity constraints or other deficiencies affecting the same; and

4.6

you are aged 21 or over and that you are not currently self-excluded from any online or mobile gambling site and that you will inform us immediately if you enter into a self-exclusion agreement with any gambling provider.

5. PROHIBITED USES
5.1

SOFTWARE MODIFICATIONS. User may not attempt to engage in any Unauthorised Use in any way.

5.2

PERSONAL USE. The Service is intended solely for the User's personal use. The User is only allowed to wager for his/her personal entertainment. Under no circumstances shall a User be permitted to use his/her "real money account" with the Operator for any purpose other than for using the Service. The User must provide full and truthful information in respect of all details and information provided by the User to the Operator and the User is obligated to update such details in the event of any change thereto.

5.3

REAL MONEY TRANSFERS. The real money transfer facility is accessed via the Site (the downloadable client), under the heading "requests" and then "transfer funds"). Users must enter the amount to transfer and the player ID of the intended recipient. Users are reminded that it is their responsibility to ensure they know who the other Users are before entering into these arrangements. Limits on transfers will be set by the Operator per User.

As part of the Operators' licensing agreement and in compliance with anti money laundering legislation, Users need to be aware they may be required to produce personal documentation (such as Government issued ID, bank statements and utility bills) upon request in order for their transfer to be processed. This allows the Operator to help protect the Users and prevent the Operator being used as a vehicle for money laundering or fraud.

The following terms and conditions also apply to the real money transfer facility:

  1. The Operator reserves the right to decline any account transfer requests or to overturn any account transfer upon suspicion of breach of any of the terms of this Agreement by the sender or receiver.
  2. A sending User agrees that they may only make an account transfer to enable a receiving User to play the Games and not for any other purpose.
  3. A receiving User agrees that they may only use the funds from an account transfer to play the Games and not for any other purpose.
  4. Users cannot cash out funds directly received from a transfer, (refer to sub-paragraph (c) above); winnings arising from playing the Games using the transferred funds that subsequently contribute to a cash out request will be reviewed in accordance with the Operator's internal controls, policies and procedures.
5.4

COLLUSION. Collusion between Users by sharing hole cards or by any other methods is strictly forbidden. The Operator reserves the right, in addition to other measures, to restrict seating and/or to prohibit Users from playing at a particular poker table or in a tournament, including restricting two or more Users from playing together at the same table or in the same tournament. In addition, the Operator reserves the right to consider any collusion or attempt at collusion between players (including Users) as a material breach of this Agreement and accordingly the Operator shall have the right to terminate a User's account if a User engages or attempts to engage in any such activity, regardless of the outcome of such attempt.

5.5

EXTERNAL PLAYER ASSISTANCE TOOLS. The Operator prohibits external player assistance Tools ("EPA Tools") which are designed to provide an "unfair advantage" to players. The Operator defines "EPA Tools" as computer software (other than the Software), and non-software-based databases (e.g. web sites, subscription services and physical materials). The Operator takes a broad view of what constitutes an "unfair advantage" in the context of any use of EPA Tools and specific guidance can be found in our Third Party Tools and Services Policy. For the avoidance of doubt, what is prohibited encompasses but is not limited to accessing or compiling information on other players beyond that which the User has personally observed through the User's own game play or receiving advice, direction or assistance on how to play, in real time, that goes beyond a basic level.

5.6

AUTOMATIC PLAYERS (BOTS). The use of artificial intelligence including, without limitation, "robots" is strictly forbidden in connection with the Service. All actions taken in relation to the Service by a User must be executed personally by players through the user interface accessible by use of the Software.

5.7

You agree that the Operator may take steps to detect and prevent the use of prohibited EPA Programs. These steps may include, but are not limited to, examination of software programs running concurrently with the Software on the User's computer. You agree that you will not attempt to bypass, interfere with, or block such steps, including, without limitation, the use of third party software that bypasses, interferes with, or blocks such steps.

5.8

CHIP-DUMPING. Chip-dumping occurs when any User intentionally loses a hand in order to deliberately transfer his chips to another User. Any User who participates or attempts to participate in chip-dumping with any other User, including being the recipient of funds, while using the Service may be permanently banned from using the Service and their User account may be terminated immediately. In such circumstances, the Operator will be under no obligation to refund to you any monies that may be in your User account at such time.

5.9

FRAUDULENT BEHAVIOR. In the event that the Operator deems that a User has engaged or attempted to engage in fraudulent, unlawful, dishonest or improper activity while using the Service, including without limitation, engaging in any of the activities set forth in this clause 5 or any other game manipulation, or the making of any fraudulent payment, including without limitation, use of a stolen credit card or fraudulent chargeback or money laundering, the Operator shall be entitled to take such action as it sees fit, including, but not limited to:

  1. immediately blocking a User's access to the Service;
  2. terminating a User's account;
  3. seizing the funds within a User's account;
  4. disclosing such information (including the identity of the User) to financial institutions, relevant authorities and/or any person or entity that has the legal right to such information; and/or
  5. taking legal action against a User.
5.10

CURRENCY EXCHANGE. Users are able to effect currency exchange transactions via the Service on their PC or Device with funds standing to the credit of such User's account (the "Currency Exchange Facility"). All currency exchange transactions on the Currency Exchange Facility will take place at the current prevailing rate offered for the transaction type in question. The exchange rates will be updated on a regular basis, and it is possible that different rates may be offered depending on the type of transaction and movement in currency value. Users should ensure they are aware of fluctuations in the exchange rate and the impact this may have on their available funds before using the Currency Exchange Facility. The Operator may also, at its discretion, revoke or withdraw support for any particular currency without notice.

The use of the Currency Exchange Facility and/or User's account to engage in currency trading or speculation is strictly prohibited. To help maintain the integrity of the Currency Exchange facility, the Operator has the right to, in its sole discretion:

  1. decline or reverse any currency conversion transactions effected via the Currency Exchange Facility; and / or
  2. limit the number of currencies held by a User in such User's account and the amount of money that may be converted between currencies by that User; and/or
  3. require that funds held in a User's account and converted via the Currency Exchange Facility into a different currency be used for playing the Games before being cashed out, transferred or used for any other purpose; and/or
  4. retroactively apply any fee which was waived as part of a currency conversion transaction.

The User agrees to and accepts the terms and conditions relating to real money transaction processing and currency exchange located here.

5.11

Persons located in or residents of the United States and the United States Territories (the "Prohibited Jurisdictions") are not permitted to make deposits into their accounts or engage in real-money play.  For the avoidance of doubt, the foregoing restrictions on engaging in real-money play from Prohibited Jurisdictions applies equally to residents and citizens of other nations while located in a Prohibited Jurisdiction.

Players located in or residents of France and applicable territories, Italy, Estonia, Belgium, Denmark, Greece and Spain (the "Restricted Jurisdictions") are required to play according to the regulations in each Restricted Jurisdiction, using the appropriately designated, licensed game clients.

Any attempt to circumvent the restrictions on play by any persons located in a Prohibited Jurisdiction or a Restricted Jurisdiction, is a breach of this Agreement. An attempt at circumvention includes, but is not limited to, manipulating the information used by the Operator to identify your location and providing the Operator with false or misleading information regarding your location or place of residence.

6. WITHDRAWAL POLICY
6.1

The policy and criteria for a User to effect a withdrawal from his/her User account can be found in our Withdrawal Policy. The Operator reserves the right to use additional eligibility criteria to determine the withdrawal options Users may be offered at any given time.

7. OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE OR CONTENT
7.1

The User is prohibited from posting any unlawful, indecent, racist, obscene, libelous, defamatory or threatening material or any material that would violate any law or generally be considered to be offensive, via the Service whether using the chat function with respect to which please refer to the Card Room Rules, the player images option or in correspondence with staff of the Operator or the Service Provider.

8. BREACH
8.1

Without prejudice to any other rights, if a User breaches in whole or in part any provision contained herein, the Operator reserves the right to take such action as it sees fit, including terminating this Agreement, immediately blocking access to the Service to such User, terminating such User's account, seizing all monies held in the relevant account and/or taking legal action against such User.

8.2

You agree to fully indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Operator, the Service Provider, and all affiliates, shareholders, directors and employees of the foregoing from and against all claims, demands, liabilities, damages, losses, costs and expenses, including legal fees and any other charges whatsoever, howsoever caused, that may arise as a result of:

  1. your breach of this Agreement, in whole or in part;
  2. violation by you of any law or any third party rights; and
  3. use by you of the Service or use by any other person accessing the Service using your Login Credentials (as defined below), whether or not with your authorization.
9. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
9.1

Under no circumstances, including negligence, shall the Operator be liable for any special, incidental, direct, indirect or consequential damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or any other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use (or misuse) of the Service even if the Operator had prior knowledge of the possibility of such damages.

10. SECURITY AND YOUR ACCOUNT
10.1

Each User account shall be accessible through the use of a combination of a unique username ("Username"), a unique and secret password ("Password"), and other optional numeric authentication methods that the User may select (the Username, Password and any other authentication features together being referred to as the "Login Credentials"). The User is obligated to choose his/her own Username and Password in accordance with the rules relating thereto.

10.2

The User agrees that he/she is solely responsible for all use of the Service under his/her Login Credentials and that he/she shall not disclose the Login Credentials to any person whatsoever nor permit another person to use the Service via his/her User account.

10.3

The User is obliged to keep his/her Login Credentials secret and confidential at all times and to take all efforts to protect their secrecy and confidentiality. Any unauthorized use of the Login Credentials shall be the sole responsibility of the User and be deemed as his/her use. Any liability therefrom shall be that of the User.

10.4

A User may only have one User account on the Site and shall only use the Service using such single account. It is prohibited for a User to open multiple accounts on the Site. In the event that the Operator becomes aware of additional accounts opened by a User, the Operator may close such additional accounts without notice and may confiscate funds held in such additional accounts.

10.5

Please note that monies held by the Operator do not accrue interest in your favour.

10.6

(a) We apply a deposit limit to all User accounts, which means there is a maximum amount that you can deposit into your account over a period of one week. Specifically, you are limited to a maximum cumulative amount of 200 EUR deposit per week. You can always lower the deposit limit. The deposit limit may in our discretion be increased, and is, in line with Belgian applicable law, subject to credit reference and other affordability checks. For more information about this, please see here and here.

(b) You will not be able to place any bets using the Service in an amount greater than the total amount of money in your account.

10.7

You are fully responsible for paying all monies which may be owed by you to the Operator and for the successful receipt by the Operator of cleared funds equal in amount to the amount deposited by you (or by others on your behalf) to your account. In respect to payments made by you (or by others on your behalf) to your account in respect of the Service, you agree not to make any chargebacks and/or deny or reverse any payment made and to reimburse the Operator for any chargebacks, denial or reversal of payments you make and any loss suffered by us as a consequence.

10.8

The Operator reserves the right to run credit and/or identity checks on a User, with third party credit reference agencies or services, using the information provided to us by a User on registration with the Service. The third party credit reference agencies or services may retain a record of the information but they will not use the information for any other purpose.

10.9

The Operator reserves the right to use third party electronic payment processors and/or financial institutions to process payments made by and to you in connection with your use of the Service.

10.10

You acknowledge and agree that monies deposited by you in your account are held in a trust account on your behalf which is segregated from the Operator's operational expense accounts and is held with reputable financial institutions in Europe.

11. THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE
11.1

The Software contains, as a component, third party software, including software developed by the OpenSSL Project for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit (http://www.openssl.org); cryptographic software written by Eric Young; ungif software written by Eric S. Raymond; PSTCollectionView software written by Peter Steinberger, and font software that is proprietary to the licensor or its suppliers and subject to the copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions (the "Licensed Software").

11.2

The User's use of the Licensed Software is subject to compliance with all of the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

11.3

The Licensed Software may not be altered, modified or extracted from the Software.

11.4

The User's use is limited to "Internal Use" meaning use of the Licensed Software only in the course of the User's customary and ordinary internal business or personal use and not for further resale, sublicensing or distribution. "Customary and ordinary internal business use" shall mean, for an End User that is an entity, use by such User, or its employees or authorized agents for the User's customary and ordinary internal business. "Customary and ordinary personal use" shall mean, for an end User that is an individual, use by such User or a member of such User's household for internal personal purposes. All such employees, agents, and household members shall be notified by the User as to the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

11.5

All rights not expressly granted in the Licensed Software are reserved.

11.6

The OpenSSL Toolkit, the ungif software, the PSTCollectionView software and cryptographic software is provided by the OpenSSL Project, by Eric S. Raymond, by Peter Steinberger and by Eric Young "as is" and any expressed or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. In no event shall the OpenSSL Project, Eric Young, Eric S. Raymond, Peter Steinberger or their contributors be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary or consequential damages (including, but not limited to, procurement of substitute goods or services; loss of use, data, or profits or business interruption) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of the OpenSSL Toolkit, the ungif software, the PSTCollectionView software and cryptographic software, even if advised of the possibility of such damage.

12. DISPUTES
12.1

The User accepts that the historical data of each game shall be as recorded on the Operator's servers. In the event of a discrepancy between the cards displayed on your computer and the game records on the Operator's server the latter shall prevail. The User accepts that the "Instant Hand History" and "Hand Replayer" features of the Software shall not be considered as the official historical record of any hand.

13. AMENDMENT
13.1

The Operator reserves the right to update or modify this Agreement or any part thereof at any time without notice and you will be bound by such amended Agreement within 14 days of it being posted at the Site. Therefore, we encourage you to visit the Site regularly and check the terms and conditions contained in the version of the Agreement in force at such time. Your continued use of the Site shall be deemed to attest to your agreement to any amendments to the Agreement.

14. GOVERNING LAW
14.1

The Agreement and any matters relating hereto shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of Belgium. You irrevocably agree that, subject as provided below, the courts of Belgium shall have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any claim, dispute or difference concerning the Agreement and any matter arising therefrom and irrevocably waive any right that it may have to object to an action being brought in those courts, or to claim that the action has been brought in an inconvenient forum, or that those courts do not have jurisdiction. Nothing in this clause shall limit the right of the Operator to take proceedings against you in any other court of competent jurisdiction, nor shall the taking of proceedings in any one or more jurisdictions preclude the taking of proceedings in any other jurisdictions, whether concurrently or not, to the extent permitted by the law of such other jurisdiction.

15. SEVERABILITY
15.1

If a provision of this Agreement is or becomes illegal, invalid or unenforceable in any jurisdiction, that shall not affect the validity or enforceability in that jurisdiction of any other provision hereof or the validity or enforceability in other jurisdictions of that or any other provision hereof.

16. ASSIGNMENT
16.1

The Operator reserves the right to assign this agreement, in whole or in part, at any time without notice. The User may not assign any of his/her rights or obligations under this Agreement.

17. MISCELLANEOUS
17.1

No waiver by the Operator of any breach of any provision of this Agreement (including the failure of the Operator to require strict and literal performance of or compliance with any provision of this Agreement) shall in any way be construed as a waiver of any subsequent breach of such provision or of any breach of any other provision of this Agreement.

17.2

Nothing in this Agreement shall create or confer any rights or other benefits in favour of any third parties not party to this Agreement other than any the Service Provider.

17.3

Nothing in this Agreement shall create or be deemed to create a partnership, agency, trust arrangement, fiduciary relationship or joint venture between you and us.

17.4

This Agreement constitutes the entire understanding and agreement between you and us regarding the Service and supersedes any prior agreement, understanding, or arrangement between you and us.

17.5

The User must provide full and truthful information in respect of all details and information requested by the Operator in connection with the User's use of the Service subject at all times to the terms of the Privacy Policy.

17.6

The English language version of this Agreement shall be the prevailing version in the event of any discrepancy between any translated versions of this Agreement.

Copyright © 2023 Rational Intellectual Holdings Limited. All rights reserved.

With regard to the OpenSSL Toolkit:
Copyright © 1998-2011 The OpenSSL Project. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1995-1998 Eric Young. All rights reserved.

With respect to PSTCollectionView software:
Copyright (c) 2012-2013 Peter Steinberger

With respect to ungif software:
The GIFLIB distribution is Copyright (c) 1997 Eric S. Raymond

More information is available at www.pokerstars.be.

Gambling Management S.A. can be contacted by email at support@pokerstars.be.

In force from: May 10, 2023