Blockbuster PokerStars Deal with Amaya May Have Run Foul of the Law

Amaya claims that their officers, directors and employees are innocent and that they are cooperating fully with ongoing investigations.

Speculations are on over PokerStars' acquisition by Quebec-based Amaya Gaming, which was sold for billions of dollars. Investigators from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) are looking into the deal involving the gaming firm more closely for anything that might hint at foul play under US gambling laws, at the request of the US financial industry.

It has been alleged that Amaya investors may have been able to get a scoop of the deal because of some leaked information, days before the company ’s acquisition of the blockbuster deal. David Baazov, CEO of Amaya, said the investigation was ‘something that we anticipated, given that there was a historical stock run-up in advance’.

Dual investigations

For, apart from the investigation by the FINRA, the Quebec authorities are also carrying out one of their own to determine how the inside information got dispersed and by whom, a difficult task since Amaya data ‘were readily available to anyone with internet access well before the deal closed’. Although Baazov seems unperturbed by the double investigations, it could affect the company’s image as it breaks into the US market.

For, May 20 last year, Industrial Allegiance predicted that Amaya would end up with a massive purchase of some online gambling sites in The US while another company, named PokerStars as the possibly acquisition just three days later. Amaya stock prices rose just the day before multi-billion dollar deal was signed.