Well, the rumors have officially been put to rest just minutes ago about the potential acquisition of PokerStars and their parent company The Rational Group. And they were put to rest in a very BIG way…
In a press release that was just announced at Newswire.ca, the Amaya Gaming Group will pay a total of $4.9 billion to acquire Rational and both of its powerhouse online poker brands, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.
Here’s a snippet of the press release that has Amaya’s CEO commenting about the acquisition:
“This is a transformative acquisition for Amaya, strengthening our core B2B operations with a consumer online powerhouse that creates a scalable global platform for growth,” said David Baazov, CEO of Amaya. “Mark Scheinberg pioneered the online poker industry, building a remarkable business and earning the trust of millions of poker players by delivering the industry’s best game experiences, customer service and online security. Working with the experienced executive team at Rational Group, Amaya will continue that tradition of excellence and accelerate growth into new markets and verticals.”
This landmark deal is of course huge news for citizens of the United States, and moreover citizens who already can play legalized online poker in New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware. Since Amaya already powers software currently being used in these regulated locales, it means that the company will now be able to offer PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker in the same locations, along with any future states that pass legislation for online poker.
The Rational Group, the parent company of PokerStars, was previously unable to bring their top of the line poker software to states that have already legalized internet gaming due to “bad actor” clauses that were written in by the states’ politicians. These “bad actor” clauses came about due to the fact Stars continued to operate after the original UIGEA bill was passed in 2006, which essentially banned all online poker sites from operating within the United States.
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