PokerStars HQ to remain in Isle of Man
Poker operator pledges to maintain its headquarters in the jurisdiction with no planned redundancies following proposed Amaya acquisition
PokerStars has confirmed it will retain its Isle of Man headquarters following the proposed takeover by Canadian firm Amaya Gaming, stating it will make no redundancies and expects to increase its headcount on the island.
Earlier this month gaming supplier Amaya agreed a US$4.9bn deal to acquire PokerStars parent company the Rational Group in what is set to be the biggest acquisition in egaming history.
Amaya is based in Montreal and despite press statements by PokerStars’ stating its commitment to the island there are ongoing questions over the fate of Rational’s operations on the Isle of Man where it employs over 200 people.
But group general counsel for the Rational Group of Companies Paul Telford wrote a letter to the Isle of Man’s chief minister Allan Ball confirming the firm’s future on the island and saying he was confident of additional job creation in the future.
“The stated intention of Amaya is ‘business as usual’ and to leave things unchanged as much as possible. I can therefore confirm there are no planned redundancies,” Telford said.
“The clear intention of the [Rational Group] acquisition is to take PokerStars on to even greater heights with plans for launches of new products and expansion into new territories”¦such plans will likely lead to growth and job opportunities for the talent that exists in the local market,” Telford said.
Under the terms of the agreement Amaya will acquire Rational Group’s B2C poker business including PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, live poker tours, and online and TV programming.
Peter Greenhill, Isle of Man’s head of egaming development, said he welcomed the decision of PokerStars and predicted continued growth of the jurisdiction’s egaming industry.
“We are confident that growth within egaming and the broader e-business sector will continue such that it will represent 23% of our economy by 2020 and employ 2,400 people,” he said.