Amaya Inc. stocks tumbled after the company announced third-quarter results that missed estimates and the company lowered its financial forecast for the rest of the year.
The company, based in Montreal, said it will earn C$345 million to C$365 million this year, or C$1.66 to C$1.75 per share, excluding some items. Previously it had projected profit of C$367 million to C$415 million, of C$1.76 to C$2 per share, according to Bloomberg News.
The company pointed to a strengthening U.S. dollar, which has reduced the purchasing power of customers by 19 percent. The company also said it delayed a sports-betting product that needed improvement before its release, Chief Executive Officer David Baazov said in the statement Tuesday.
Sales for the year will be between C$1.29 billion and C$1.34 billion, down from the C$1.45 billion to C$1.56 billion projected earlier, the company said. That suggests a maximum of C$357.4 million in fourth-quarter sales, below the C$426.6 million average estimate of five analysts, Bloomberg reported. .
The number of active PokerStars players fell 3 percent to 2.2 million in the third quarter from a year earlier, the company said.
In another matter, GamblingInvest.com reports that Amaya Inc. is still preparing to launch a dedicated sports betting portal under the brand ‘BetStars.com.’
The report says that Amaya subsidiary Rational Intellectual Holdings has acquired a group of domains all connected with the BetStars.com brand. Reportedly, BetStars.com was bought for an undisclosed amount by the Rational Group in October.
According to GamblinInvest.com, Rational Holdings paid $10,000 for the domain and then acquired BetStars brand by buying BetStars.co.uk, Betstars.eu and BetStars.de as well. GamblingInvest said the company paid $2,177 for the .eu domain and $1,995 for the .de domain.
BetStars.com used to belong to WilsonBet, a UK licensed operator that shut down the domain on 30th of June.
Amaya expects the first quarter of 2016 to be much better, anticipating the launch of its PokerStars and Full Tilt Casino websites in New Jersey, where it recently was licensed. The debut of the sites is set for January 1.
Amaya has also named Rafi Ashkenazi CEO of the Rational Group, which runs the company’s online brands Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars.
Ashkenazi joined the Rational Group in January 2013 as Chief Operating Officer, responsible for all customer-facing product and back-office functions for PokerStars and Full Tilt including marketing, customer support, poker room management, IT management, payment processing & security, and game integrity, the company said in a release.
Ashkenazi then became senior vice president of strategy for Amaya Inc., reporting to Amaya CEO David Baazov. Prior to joining the Rational Group, Ashkenazi was chief operating officer of Playtech, a global gaming software company.
“Rafi has been working very closely this year with our executive management team and returns to Rational Group with an even greater knowledge of our corporate strategy, vision and goals. Combining this knowledge with his operational expertise makes him an ideal leader for the Rational Group,” said Baazov.
