The Stars Group

The Stars Group Inc.
Public
Traded as NASDAQ: TSG
TSX: TSGI
Industry Online Gaming
Predecessor Amaya Inc.
Founded 2001 (2001)
Headquarters Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Rafael 'Rafi' Ashkenazi
(CEO)
Divyesh 'Dave' Gadhia
(Chairman)
Products PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Sky Betting & Gaming, BetStars, PokerStars Casino, PokerStars Championship, PokerStars Festival, PokerStars MEGASTACK
Revenue $1.3 billion (2017)[1]
Number of employees
 1,800 (2017)
Website www.starsgroup.com

The Stars Group Inc. (formerly known as Amaya Inc., Amaya Gaming Group Inc. and Rational Group) is a Canadian gaming and online gambling company traded on Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol TSX: TSGI)/(NASDAQ: TSG) and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Operations

The company produces and offers online gaming products and services including poker, casino and sportsbook through its online gaming division, Stars Interactive. These online brands are PokerStars, PokerStars Casino, BetStars and Full Tilt Poker.[2]

The Stars Group is also the owner of the PokerStars Championship, PokerStars Festival and MEGASTACK live poker tournament brands, and brands live poker rooms including PokerStars Live at the Hippodrome Casino London, PokerStars Live at the City of Dreams in Macau and PokerStars Live at the City of Dreams in Manila.

Stars Interactive is headquartered in Onchan, Isle of Man where PokerStars has had an office since its early inception.

Licensing

Stars Interactive, the online gaming division of The Stars Group, has licences or related approvals to operate from 17 jurisdictions and offers its products and services in Europe, North America and elsewhere. In the jurisdictions where it operates, it either maintains a local licence or approval, or uses multi-jurisdictional licences issued by the Isle of Man or Malta.

Corporate History

In June 2014, the company agreed to buy the parent company of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, owned by Isai and Mark Scheinberg, for $4.9 billion[3][4] borrowing $3 billion for the deal.[5] The takeover made The Stars Group, then called Amaya, the world's biggest publicly listed online gambling company.[6] The deal was closed on August 1, 2014,[7] with final payment being made on May 31, 2017.[8]

David Baazov was Amaya's CEO at that time.[9] In March 2016, following charges by Canadian regulators with multiple securities fraud charges,[10] he took an indefinite leave of absence,[11] and resigned in August.[12] On December 20, 2016, Baazov dropped a bid to buy the company with a "virtually unknown" group of outside investors, one of whom denied being involved.[13]

In December 2015, a Kentucky court ordered that Amaya pay $870 million in penalties to cover alleged losses by the state's residents who played real-money poker on the PokerStars website between 2006 and 2011.[14]

Current CEO Rafi Ashkenazi became Interim Chief Executive Officer of The Stars Group, then Amaya, in March 2016 and then permanent Chief Executive Officer in November, 2016.

On August 1, 2017, the company changed its name to The Stars Group Inc.[15]

Retired US Army General and former Democratic Party presidential nominee Wesley Clark is a former member of the board of directors.[16]

In April of 2018, the company acquired UK-focused Sky Betting & Gaming for cash and stock worth $4.7 billion.[17]

References

  1. ↑ "Annual Report 2017" (PDF). Stars Group. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  2. ↑ "The Stars Group Announces Upsizing and Pricing of Private Offering of $1.0 Billion of Unsecured Senior Notes". 28 June 2018.
  3. ↑ "Amaya Agrees to Acquire Rational Group for $4.9B". Amaya Gaming. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
  4. ↑ "Amaya Gaming In Deal To Buy PokerStars For $4.9 Billion". Forbes. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
  5. ↑ "David Baazov's Amaya Gaming Wins Big with Giant Online Poker Acquisition". Jewish Business News. 2014-09-29. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
  6. ↑ "Canada's Amaya acquiring PokerStars owner Rational Group for $4.9bn". Montreal News.Net. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
  7. ↑ Wall Street Journal: Amaya Completes Acquisition of Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker
  8. ↑ Amaya Makes Final Payment on Rational Group Deferred Purchase Price
  9. ↑ "The King Of Online Gambling (Is 34)". Forbes.com. 2014-12-01. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
  10. ↑ "CEO of online gaming company Amaya faces charges", Toronto Star, March 23, 2016
  11. ↑ "Amaya CEO David Baazov Takes Indefinite Leave Of Absence Amid Insider Trading Charges", Forbes, March 29, 2016
  12. ↑ "Amaya CEO David Baazov officially resigns after growing an online gambling giant", Financial Post, August 12, 2016
  13. ↑ "Baazov folds on $4.1-billion Amaya bid", The Globe and Mail, December 20, 2016
  14. ↑ "Kentucky fines PokerStar's owner $870 million to cover residents' losses". Reuters.com. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  15. ↑ Amaya Changes Name to The Stars Group
  16. ↑ Bloomberg: Wesley Clark - The Penny-Stock General
  17. ↑ "Stars Group Goes Big On Sports Betting, Acquires Sky Bet For $4.7 Billion". Online Poker Report. 2018-04-21. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
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