PokerStars sportsbook due in "coming days"
Parent company Amaya Gaming says strategic rollout of sportsbook is imminent with product live in "selected teritorries"
Amaya Gaming said it has taken its first bet on its PokerStars sportsbook product with the product now live in selected territories including the Republic or Ireland ahead of a wider rollout due during the course of Q2.
Speaking as part of his firm’s full-year results announcement, Amaya chief executive David Baazov said a beta version of the sportsbook would initially be released in selected markets with “an expansion across the network to take place through the first half of 2015”.
The sportsbook will be released via its recently acquired PokerStars brand intially through the PS7 client and the first territories believed to have gone live are Malta, the Isle of Man and the RoI.
Baazov first let slip of plans to launch a sportsbook during the firms Q3 2014 results call, and said the platform would use some third party services with “key differentiating factors” developed in-house.
eGR understands it will be partly powered by trading platform and services provider Amelco.
While Stars’ sportsbook launch was initially slated for the first half of 2015, in January Amaya released a statement saying the platform was “ahead of schedule” and would launch in the Q1 in “certain markets”.
Towards the back end of last year PokerStars’ parent company the Rational Group began building its in-house trading team, and appointed former bet365 trading manager Ian Marmion to the role of trading director.
Once live, PokerStars sportsbook looks set for a broad European launch, with the Nordics and Eastern Europe believed to be a target regions based on job postings on the Rational Group website.
eGR understands the primary aim of the PokerStars’ sportsbook will be to keep poker-playing customers from leaving the site, rather than as an acquisition tool aimed at competing with the likes of bet365 and William Hill.
PokerStars’ move into sportsbook is part of a wider expansion into additional gaming verticals, having rolled out online casino across the majority of its global markets in recent months.