PokerStars plots 2017 India launch
Amaya-owned brand also says it plans to pull out of Australia following legislative roadblocks Down Under
Amaya has announced plans to launch a real-money poker product in India in the first half of 2017 and potentially pull out of Australia.
Speaking during a Q3 earnings call this week, Amaya CEO Rafi Ashkenazi said the firm had already approached local partners in India and expected to go live with its PokerStars platform “as soon as Q1 or Q2 2017”.
He added the firm was working on a concept for the rest of Asia it would be able to reveal more about in Q4.
According to Ashkenazi, the new markets would help overcome a 150 basis point hit to EBITDA that Amaya expects from a potential exit from Australia. The market accounts for around 2.5% of PokerStars revenues.
Amaya CFO Daniel Sebag said the company was “reviewing the applicability”of Australia’s new gambling legislation, which could clamp down on online poker and casino operators.
However, the company’s executives were confident they could make up the shortfall with global expansion.
“India is a greater opportunity if you are looking at the player base,”said Ashkenazi. “But it is very different in terms of purchasing power per capita.
“We predict a market of $80m-$150m a year. It will be worth more than Australia eventually, but it will take time to develop.”
He added that the firm was “absolutely”in discussions with local partners to facilitate a launch.
Real-money poker is relatively widespread in India with explicit advertising and European firms like Microgaming active in the market.
However, it is not yet “fully white”according to George Oborne, the CEO of social gaming site Indiabet, with the courts yet to rubber stamp the activity as a legal game of skill.
Amaya also announced plans to re-enter the Portugal market “shortly”as a licensed operator, although no specific timeline was given.
The product will initially be on a closed dot.pt liquidity pool although Ashkenazi said the plan was to transition to dot.com liquidity or a pan-European pool when possible.
Regulators in countries with closed poker liquidity pools like Portugal, France, Spain and Italy are said to be working on a liquidity-sharing pact.