The latest changes to California’s Internet poker bill call for online gaming companies who facilitated poker games for Americans between 2006 and 2011 to be excluded from the Golden State market for five years, according to a report from The Los Angeles Times. The amendment would prevent PokerStars, which has roughly 70 percent of the worldwide online poker market, from being involved right out of the gate in what is considered the nation’s largest online poker market. PokerStars facilitated games for Americans until 2011, before the federal government indicted its former owners. The company settled without admitting to any wrongdoing,…

Given the secular decline of the online poker industry, Amaya (parent company of PokerStars) will be hard-pressed to double the size of its poker arm in the next five years. That’s one of the focal points of a new research report on Amaya authored by Adam Krejcik of Eilers Research and Online Poker Report publisher Chris Grove. Eilers has proven to be one of the more sobering (and accurate) voices with regards to online gaming revenue predictions. Its latest report continues that trend, and not without good reason. The online poker industry is in the midst of a multi-year downswing,…

Canadian gaming provider Amaya Gaming is set to acquire Rational Group, the parent company of the world’s leading online poker site PokerStars, for US$4.9bn (€3.6bn). Amaya struck the deal with Oldford Group Limited, the holding company for Rational Group and will acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Oldford Group in an all-cash transaction for an aggregate purchase price, which includes certain differed payments and is subject to other customary adjustments. The transaction will be financed by a combination of cash on hand, new debt, and a private placement of subscription receipts, common shares and non-voting convertible preferred….

Card Player – Bloomberg reported on Thursday that PokerStars, the world’s largest poker website in terms of traffic, is near a deal to be acquired by Amaya Gaming Group Inc. Amaya is a maker of gambling equipment and systems. The Canada-based Amaya owns the Ongame Network, which it acquired from bwin.party in 2012. It also has partnered with the Golden Nugget for online gaming in Nevada and New Jersey. In addition, Amaya Gaming has a deal with Ultimate Gaming for online gambling in New Jersey. According to the report, PokerStars being under new ownership might give the firm a better…

Card Player – After an historic consensus between 13 California tribal groups on online poker in the Golden State, PokerStars and its partner, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, as well as the Commerce Club, Hawaiian Gardens Casino and the Bicycle Casino, have responded. The latter group is opposed to what has been proposed by the 13 tribal groups. Currently two Internet poker bills sit in the legislature. “We strongly oppose the so-called ‘bad actor’ language that is nothing other than a blatant attempt to provide certain interests with an unfair competitive advantage by arbitrarily locking out trusted iPoker brands,”…

LA Times – In legislative proceedings, the most important words in a debate often are the ones left unmentioned. At a hearing held by a California state assembly committee last month about legalizing online poker, the unspoken term was PokerStars. No hearing witnesses wanted to say outright that they were talking about PokerStars. It’s the largest online poker company in the world, which wants in on the riches to be had if California legalizes Internet card play, but it also has faced federal charges of money laundering and fraud. So the April 23 discussion before the Governmental Organization Committee was…