Amaya sportsbook on track for 2015 launch
Toronto-based operator to use third party services to help bring its Full Tilt-branded sportsbook to market in H1 2015
Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov (pictured) said the company continues to “invest heavily” in developing its proprietary Full Tilt-branded sportsbook with a launch expected in the first half of 2015.
Speaking to investors after the Toronto-based firm reported its Q3 results on Friday, Baazov said the company intends to use some third-party services but would develop the “key differentiating factors” in-house.
“The business intends to leverage third-party services for non-differentiating components while we continue to control the loyalty program, customer service, and other key differentiating factors of the business,” Baazov said.
There had been suggestions that Amaya had ditched plans to build a propriety sportsbook while various reports last week linked the firm to a takeover bid for bwin.party.
During the call, Baazov said the launch of its sportsbook formed part of the company’s wider strategy to expand its recently acquired Full Tilt and PokerStars brands into adjacent gaming verticals, and highlighted the “very positive” launch of its Full Tilt casino to the UK market earlier this year.
“The results have been very positive so far, with more than 30% of eligible poker players in the quarter also playing on casino games, resulting in incremental growth driven by an increase in deposits with a minimal impact to poker,” Baazov said.
The chief exec also revealed plans to bolster its PokerStars-branded casino, which launched in Spain in October, with additional games, a mobile platform and launches in additional markets scheduled for next year and did not rule out a PokerStars sportsbook launch.
“We anticipate the launch of casino on web and mobile in 2015, which will help increase cross-sell and acquire new customers,” Baazov said. “The business has already achieved a double-digit market share [in Spain], and we believe we have grown the overall market as well.”
Baazov said he believed the continued roll-out of casino and the launch of a sportsbook would help reactivate dormant accounts and attract new players, and estimated that Amaya’s market for casino and sportsbook would be around 45%-50% of its core poker offering.
“The continued roll out of casino and the launch of sportsbook will help attract players while resulting in strong profitable growth in 2016 and beyond. Currently, weekly casino yield is higher than poker, but with the web and mobile version we anticipate that yield will increase to 1.5 or 2.5 times that of poker.”
He also revealed the firm’s “continued focus” on providing the “best mobile poker offering” had helped drive the acquisition of new customers during the quarter, with mobile representing more than half of all new worldwide registrations, up from 40% in Q3 2013.
On Friday Amaya revealed total revenues for the three months ended 30 September were CA$239m, up from $39m in Q3 2013. Adjusted EBITDA was $108.4m for the quarter, leading to a net loss of $26.5m, compared with a loss of $1.6m during the same period last year.
The company also confirmed the sale of its Ongame B2B poker business to NYX Gaming for up to 8x Ongame’s 2015 EBITDA, as the firm looks to focus on its B2C poker operations. The transaction is expected to complete by the end of the month.