Amaya Gaming, parent company of PokerStars and Full Tilt, recently had their Q3 conference call. A number of things were covered during the call, but among the most-interesting points are Amaya’s plans for the U.S. online poker market. That said, let’s discuss Amaya’s hopes when they launch in New Jersey and what to expect from PokerStars in the U.S.
Amaya to use New Jersey Operation to launch in California, Nevada
When PokerStars’ old owner, Rational Group, applied for a license in Nevada, their application was suspended for 10 years. In California, PokerStars’ possible inclusion in the future online poker market is one of the biggest holdups to regulating the game there. But now that Amaya officially holds a license on American soil, their hope is that things will turn around. By running a respectable and successful operation in New Jersey, Amaya believes they have a better chance to eventually obtain licensing in California and Nevada.
Cross-sell Casino Games and Sports Betting to Poker Players
Owner of PokerStars, Full Tilt and the European Poker Tour, PokerStars commands 70% of the poker industry worldwide. And things don’t look to be any different in the U.S., where Stars should eventually become the dominate online poker site in New Jersey. It’s Amaya’s hope that they can cross-sell their casino and sports betting products to this massive poker base. Last year Amaya launched online casino games at Stars and Full Tilt, and they’ve been offering sports betting to various countries too. Online sports betting is currently not allowed in New Jersey, however, PokerStars players will definitely try the casino games.
Amaya expects More Revenue to come from Casino Games/Sports Betting
Continuing with the last point, Amaya believes that a large portion of PokerStars’ and Full Tilt’s revenue will eventually come from online casino games and sports betting. 100% of these two sites’ earnings came from online poker in 2014. This year, 85% has come from poker, while casino games have contributed 10% and sports betting has contributed 5%. By 2019, Amaya expects over 20% of their revenue to come from sports betting, 15% to come from casino games and the rest from poker. As for overall earnings, Amaya is projected to make $1.4 billion in 2014; but by 2019, they expect to earn $2.7 billion in revenue. And they believe that the U.S. will be a big part of this as regulation opens up in more states.
PokerStars will launch in New Jersey in Early 2016
As for when PokerStars launches in New Jersey, Amaya CEO David Baazov said that the plan is for “the first half of 2016.” There’s been plenty of speculation on when Stars will open in the Garden State ever since they received a license in October. Some estimated as early as a few weeks while others predicted that it would be several months. It definitely looks like the latter is closer to reality since Stars needs some time to get everything in order before finally launching.