How to Develop an App like PokerStars?

In the gaming industry, Poker is a well-known popular game played by players worldwide. The demand for the poker game is increasing among the players. There are some successful poker game apps like PokerStars, Texas Hold ’em, Zynga Poker, Omaha, PokerCircle, and many more that have created a seamless experience for the players for the poker game app. These successful poker games create an opportunity for businesses or startups in building a poker app like PokersStars and earn revenue.

Develop app like PokerStars and build a platform that creates a steady stream of revenue with the poker game app. Before diving into online poker apps like PokerStars have an in-depth understanding of the current market trends in the poker industry and the latest features to be integrated into the poker game app. Let us understand about developing a poker app like PokerStars also including the overall cost of PokerStars mobile app development.

Market Overview About Online Poker app like PokerStars

Among the different poker game apps, PokerStars has been the largest online poker platform. Poker game like PokerStars were founded by Mark Scheinberg. This game is hosting over 1.90 billion tournaments and dealing with 220 billion players. The market size of the Stars Group (Poker Start Parent Company) was $7 billion in 2024.

An online poker app generates $ 75 million annual revenue per year. There are more than 95,000 players of traffic received daily on this poker game platform. In 2024, there was an increase of 7.5% of the players on the app having approximately 5,00,000 visits to the poker game platform.

Key Features to Integrate in Developing a Poker App like PokerStars

For the PokerStars clone app development, it is more than integrating with the basic gameplay features. The application needs to be integrated with advanced features that help to attract users as well as increase user engagement. Following are some key features of the poker app clone like PokerStars that need to be integrated into the app.

1. Multiplayer Gameplay

To increase the engagement of users and provide an excellent gaming experience, multiplayer is a good option to choose. With the multiplayer game feature, it creates a competitive gaming experience for the users making the game more interesting. Here, one can add a robust skill-based system to pair players who have the same skills and can play the game against each other.

2. Socializing the Game

Building an app like Poker Stars with social gaming features like live chat, integrating social media, and inviting friends are the trendy features of the game app. This feature can help to increase the number of players in the app with invites and other social sharing options.

3. Secured Payment Option

Security is the first option that builds trust among the players. Hence, it is important to have a secured payment gateway to be integrated that provides a hassle-free transaction to the players. The Poker game platform must have multiple payment options for the players so that they can access the payment method with ease.

4. Gamification

The gamification features make the players excited to play the poker game app. Some of the features like rewards, leaderboards, and achievement badges are the gamification that needs to be integrated during the poker game development services.

5. Different Poker Variations

As a startup develop an app like PokerStars that has different poker variants to popular poker games like Texas Hold’em, Omaha, etc. This provides a dynamic gaming experience to the players with its outstanding different poker variations. Additionally, it keeps the users engaged in the poker gameplay and increases the chances of user retention as well.

6. Graphics & Visuals

Graphics is the thing that attracts the users and makes them more interested in playing the game. The poker game app like PokerStars should have stunning graphics with seamless animation that gives an outstanding gaming experience to the players. This is the main feature that attracts players to the poker game app.

7. Muti-Platform Support

Poker app clone like PokerStars must support multiple platforms including Android, iOS, and web. It is important to optimize the poker game app so that it performs well for different screens and devices.

8. Customized Tables

Providing a customized table provides a personalized gaming experience to the players. As a leading and successful poker game one needs to offer customized tables, different themes, and skin for cards providing a personalized gaming experience.

Also Read: How to Develop a Poker Game App Like PokerBaazi?

How to Develop an App like PokerStars?

Building an app like PokerStars needs to follow a structured poker game development process that is explained as follows –

1. Market Research & Analysis

Before diving into the poker game development services, it is important to understand the market insights about the poker game industry. Analyze the market size, identify the target audience, and make the preferences accordingly. I also need to understand the competitors, all about their strengths and weaknesses. This will help to understand the pros and cons of the market in the poker industry.

2. Concept & Designing Poker Game App

Designing is the core part to be considered during building a poker game app like PokerStars. The design must be simple and creative and must be user-friendly as well as responsive. This is because the player while using the app can do the navigation at ease. Make less use of multimedia elements so that the UI does not seem to be more cluttered.

3. Technology Stack for Poker Game Development

The technology stack is the building blocks of poker game development. Hence, it is important to select the right technology stack. This depends on the type of platform targeted or a common technology stack used for multi-platform apps. The following shows the technology stack –

Frontend Development (User Interface):

• iOS: Swift
• Android: Kotlin
• Web: React.js, Angular.js

Backend Development (Server & Database):

• Programming Language: Node.js, Python, PHP
• Database: MySQL, PostgreSQL, Firebase
• Server: AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure
• Game Engine: Unity, and Unreal Engine for immersive graphics

Security & Payment Gateway:

• Secure Transactions: SSL encryption, PCI-DSS compliance
• Payment Gateway: PayPal, Stripe, Bitcoin, Neteller
• Blockchain: Ethereum for smart contracts & secure transactions

4. Poker Game Development

This is the actual stage where the poker game development starts. For a robust poker game app, it is important to understand the gaming mechanism and logic of the poker game app. Understanding this, developing a poker game requires coding that creates fair gameplay giving an uninterrupted gaming experience to the players. To make the poker game app secure one can integrate blockchain or RNG features into it

5. Testing the Game

Developed with poker game apps like PokerStars, it is important to conduct quality assurance to the working of the game. This is to ensure that the app works flawlessly without any errors or interruptions. Different types of testing can be conducted on poker game apps. Some of them include unit testing, end-end testing, functional testing, etc.

6. Deploying the App & Its Maintenance

Once done with the testing, it is now time to deploy the poker game like PokerStars to the app store. The poker game app must meet the guidelines and regulations of the Play Store or app store. To gain more users to the PokerStars app, implement the best marketing strategies with regular updates that make the app free from glitches.

Also Read: Top Monetization Strategies for Poker Platforms

Cost to Develop an App like PokerStars

The overall cost of PokerStars mobile app development is based on different factors as well as requirements. Some of the factors include – game complexity, integrating API, whether the developers are experienced or not, graphics and design, and many more factors. Based on this, the PokerStars clone app development costs around $20,000 to $30,000 with basic limited features. To build poker games like PokerStars for multiple platforms it costs more than $50,000.