Amaya "anticipated" PokerStars investigation, says Baazov

Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov (pictured) has said the firm “anticipated” the ongoing investigation into its $4.9bn acquisition of PokerStars and Full Tilt parent company the Rational Group by financial regulators in Quebec, Canada.

Baazov told the Business News Network that the “historical stock run-up” to the takeover was something the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) “should be looking into”, but said there was no evidence to indicate any wrongdoing by the Toronto-based firm.

“I think the AMF is looking into something they should be looking into, and looking into what has led to that stock run up,” Baazov said. “But we have no evidence to believe there is any wrongdoing by any office, director or employee, and we are cooperating with the investigation,” he added.

Amaya confirmed the investigation back in December, with its share price plummeting almost 25% when markets opened the following day.

The company’s share price has failed to fully rebound since and last week revealed it was mulling the sale of its entire B2B business to fund a share buy-back.

Amaya yesterday said it expects to launch its hotly anticipated sportsbook platform on PokerStars during the first quarter this year. The platform has been developed in-house, with “non-differentiating” factors contracted out to third-party suppliers.

The sportsbook launch forms part of wider plan to turn PokerStars into a multi-product platform, having completed the roll-out of online casino earlier in the year.