David Baazov, speaking to Canada’s Business News Network in a wide-ranging interview discussed the current investigations into the company by securities regulators in Quebec as well as the company’s delay for moving into the U.S. Market.
Here’s a look at what he said:
Baazov told the BNN that Amaya “anticipated” the investigation currently underway by securities investigators in Quebec, which was brought on by the large gains Amaya’s stock experienced last year.
“I would say that the investigation for us is something that we anticipated given that there was a historical stock run-up in advance. I think the AMF is looking into something that they should be looking into and looking into what has led to that stock run-up,” Baazov said. “We have no evidence to believe that there’s any wrongdoing by any officer, director, or employees and we’re cooperating with the investigation.”
On the company’s acquisition of PokerStars:
“A big part of it was confidence, optimism, and an opportunity that we saw in an underlying company that the fundamentals were really good in. We saw what we wanted to do with this from our vision and a lot of optimism,” he said. “Once we got buy-in from some of the investment anchors, i.e. GSO, some by Blackstone, and Blackrock, etc., that was a defining moment probably that helped spur some positivity but this was a transaction that was very, very difficult to put together, and well into the late stages.”
When asked about Amaya’s efforts to create a more favorable regulatory environment, particularly in the United States, Baazov said that the company is already heavily licensed in the US.
“We continuously lobby for more regulation, not just in the U.S., but in other jurisdictions as well,” said Baazov. “More and more jurisdictions are regulating, so I’d say the U.S. is a big market that we plan to be in. But what I think a lot of people don’t understand is that Amaya already has over 60 licenses in the U.S. So, we’re already more regulated in the U.S. than any other iGaming company.”
Baazov also addressed Amaya’s debt and how it intends to pay it off in the absence of growth in U.S.
“Currently we’re not generating real money gaming revenue from the U.S.,” Baazov said. “So the U.S. is huge growth for us and I would say that we’re growing without it today. We just announced a buyback of shares, actually, earlier in the week. Considering that we can announce a buyback of shares with our debt and our lenders are comfortable, I think it’s a very positive sign of our ability to repay it.”
In a related matter, Amaya, in its consumer business update Amaya Gaming the company said ahead of schedule in the upcoming launch of its new sports betting product, which should be released early this year. PokerStars will also launch web and mobile versions of its casino in 2015, supported by an aggressive consumer marketing campaign.
