Industry reaction to Amaya's Rational Group acquisition
eGaming Review speaks to the industry regarding Amaya's acquisition of the Rational Group last week
Martin Stalros “ head of poker operations, Unibet
“Amaya’s acquisition of PokerStars and Full Tilt is certainly fascinating. Three things that stand out are the implications for the US, how Amaya’s casino platform implementation will affect the group in the long term, and what this means for the future of the ongame network. All in all, big news and we are looking forward to following this progress over the next couple of months and seeing how the industry will be affected.”
Sabin Brooks “ egaming consultant and former VP of Caesars Interactive Entertainment
“There’s still a legacy issue about PokerStars being a ‘bad actor’ and there’s an awful lot of stakeholder pressure [from rival firms] to make sure they don’t get in [the US]. I don’t think you can remove that pressure, so it sounds like they’ve bought the European business with a longer-term view to operate the PokerStars brand. If the US opens that multiple [paid by Amaya] changes dramatically downwards, let’s say they double their EBITDA with the US open so suddenly the multiple goes from 11 to 5.5.”
Neill Simpson – gaming consultant and former poker marketing manager at Betfair
“For me this is further testament to the natural move towards amalgamation within the gambling industry. The ‘One Stop’ shop of B2B and B2C is being created and I would anticipate more of this in the coming years. It will be interesting to see how the US situation will be managed as that seems to be underpinning the deal and [it will be interesting to see] what will become of the ongame platform.”
Alex Czajkowski “ egaming consultant
“I’m amazed and impressed, Amaya are really stepping up to make a big boy play. [The price] is astounding in a world where poker is a declining market and the technology is fairly old. PokerStars is a huge international brand “ it is one of the few real brands worldwide in our industry “ and in that respect they’re picking up a well-respected and recognisable brand. It’s a really strong contender and could shake the market up.”
Warwick Bartlett “ chief executive, Global Betting and Gaming Consultants
“This is a deal no one expected and the aftermath is likely to be felt for some time in the industry. The success of Amaya will now depend on three things. Whether it can manage PokerStars as well as the founders Mark and Isai Scheinberg, whether PokerStars under the Amaya umbrella will win licences in the US, and finally there is the fact that PokerStars has historically traded in grey markets. Will Amaya close those markets down? It isn’t going to be easy.”