Amaya Inc. has received a six month renewal of its temporary online gambling license to operate its PokerStars website in New Jersey.
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement renewed their approval for Amaya Gaming to operate both Full Tilt and PokerStars brands within the state, though only a PokerStars site has launched.
Amaya was initially approved to begin operating in New Jersey in September, but the launch of its PokerStars website did not come until last month. In just a few weeks, the site is already averaging more players than any other poker site in the state.
In a press release, the company said New Jersey players are positively responding to the software quality, the game selection and the security plus integrity of the gaming platform.
Rafi Ashkenazi, Amaya interim CEO, said that while the site has just begun operating, the company is extremely pleased with the initial launch of PokerStars within the state of New Jersey and the positive working relationship the company has with the DGE.
Ashkenazi is acting CEO as Amaya CEO David Baazov has taken a leave of absence stemming from insider trading charges by Canadian regulators surrounding, among other things, the company’s $4.9 billion acquisition of PokerStars and Full Tilt in 2014.
New Jersey regulators have been aware of the Canadian investigation and still granted transitional waivers to allow PokerStars to operate in the state, but it is unclear if the charges against Baazov will affect the company’s permanent approval in the state.
PokerStars Corporate Giving Program, Helping Hands, also announced it has formed an alliance with the New Jersey Chapter of Autism Speaks—one of the world’s leading autism science and advocacy groups.
The new alliance will see PokerStars increase their member’s awareness of autism during Autism Awareness month in April and beyond, the company said.
Meanwhile, the release of millions of documents from Panamanian corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca—dubbed the Panama Papers—could show a link involving Baazov. The papers outline numerous incidents of tax havens and the setting up of shell companies to avoid taxes and have implicated significant players around the world from the Prime Minister of Iceland to Vladimir Putin.
According to CalvinAyre.com, the documents may also factor into the insider trading charges laid against Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov last month by Quebec securities regulator Autorité des marchés financiers.
Among the companies listed in the Panama Papers is Zhapa Holdings Inc, a British Virgin Islands business whose master client is listed as IMF Network, a company based in Amaya’s corporate home of Montreal, Quebec. Among Zhapa’s listed shareholders are Goulissa Baazov. Canada’s Globe & Mail newspaper identified as the sister of David and his older brother Ofer Baazov also known as Josh Baazov, according to the website.
Also listed as a Zhapa shareholder is Isam Mansour, one of the 13 individuals whose stock trading privileges were revoked by the AMF after it identified suspicious trading patterns related to multiple Amaya business transactions dating back to 2010, CalvinAyre.com reported.
According to the report, Zhapa.com appears to no longer exist, but in the past promoted itself as a “leading provider for low-cost online internet credit card processing merchant accounts for both low risk and high risk merchants.”
Further, online registries list a number of gambling websites hosted on Zapha.com’s DNS server, including BetonUSA.com, the U.S.-facing online sportsbook owned by Josh Baazov and his partner Craig Levett. The two claimed to have sold their interests following the U.S. government’s 2006 passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act., the report said.
Both Josh Baazov and Levett are among 13 individuals whose trading privileges were frozen by the AMF.
The regulator has accused David Baazov of giving insider information regarding Amaya transactions to Josh Baazov, who then informed Levett, who passed it on to others while engaging in suspected illegal trades that reaped over $1.5 million in profits, according to CalvinAyre.com.
With the papers just released, it is unclear if the AMF or other regulatory agencies will use them in their investigations.
In another connection outlined in the report, Teddy Sagi, founder and largest shareholder of online gambling software powerhouse Playtech, appears as the sole shareholder of least 16 shell companies listed in the Mossack Fonseca files.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that most of these 16 companies appear to be connected with Sagi’s commercial real estate holdings in London.
