Globe and Mail: David Baazov Positioned to Rule the Online Poker World
Few have heard of David Baazov, yet he’s about to become the head of the world’s largest online poker firms.
As the 34-year-old CEO of Canada’s Amaya Gaming, Baazov is about to take over the reigns of PokerStars, currently the global number one in Web poker and approximately six times the size of its nearest competitor. Amaya spent $3 billion to acquire PokerStars and sister site Full Tilt Poker in hopes of re-entering the US market. Stars had operated there post-prohibition and was forced out of the market three years ago, courtesy of a series of sweeping indictments.
The Globe and Mail Thursday featured a four-page article on Baazov, Amaya, PokerStars and the Stars “publicly-shy” founder Isai Scheinberg.
It is a terrific “must-read” piece that delves into the checkered history of PokerStars.
That checkered past is what is keeping Stars out of the US market for the time being though suitors have suggested the world’s largest online poker room will be welcomed as part of Amaya. In fact, Stars is expected to enter the regulated New Jersey market by year’s end.
Still, it’s a crapshoot, as the Globe and Mail noted:
Baazov has been careful not to get too pumped up about PokerStars’ U.S. prospects, even though it would begin with a huge head of steam–by one measure, PokerStars and Full Tilt together have an estimated 66 per cent of the online poker market outside the U.S. Following the acquisition, he granted just two media interviews; he declined to be interviewed for this story. In a conference call with analysts after Amaya released its second-quarter results in August, he would only say that the company is “committed to working with regulators to create responsible and tax-efficient means to regulate within their jurisdictions.” Translation: Let us in, and we’ll play by your rules.
As part of Amaya’s bigger plans, it appears long-time affiliates may be out the door, as Gambling911.com reported on Thursday.
That in itself is a gamble. For years, affiliates have represented the very heart of PokerStars and some view this as Amaya cutting off its nose to spite its face, all as a means of gaining a foothold in a regulated US market that has yet to fully materialize. To date, only three states have regulated online poker.
- Patrick Flanagan, Gambling911.com
