When Red Dead Online exited beta with a massive update last week, some players discovered that they were unable to play in-game poker. At first, they thought they ran into a bug or weren’t fulfilling the requirements to trigger a game but when one user contacted Rockstar, they were told that poker wasn’t available in some regions due to local laws and regulations.
According to Redditor Insydedan, Rockstar sent them the following response to their query:
Thank you for contacting Rockstar Support.
We certainly understand your concern regarding not being able to play poker. We appreciate your interest in using this feature in the game.
We are sorry to let you know that the availability of poker in Red Dead Online is dependent on regional laws and regulations and may not be available to all players. In short, poker won’t be available in countries where online gambling is restricted or illegal. We apologize if this has caused any inconvenience.
Perusing the Red Dead Online subreddit reveals that the restriction has impacted a wide number of players worldwide including those from Argentina, Hong Kong, and Israel.
“We are playing Poker Stars with virtual and real money for years, and a lot of different poker software for various platforms, and the government itself has provincial and national lotteries where you can bet online,” complained a player from Argentina. “Israel also has online lottery and poker games, so it’s just stupid,” added another player. “You should also remove the betting system in GTA V that allows you to bet on the team you think will win because the law forbids that with real money.”
Rockstar has since updated its official support page with a formal message that states:
Certain features are not available at all times or for all players. This can occur for a number of reasons including regional restrictions, game design, or the incompatibility between features you are interacting with.
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