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Stock Fluctuations Hint At Amaya Gaming Group Acquiring PokerStars

By: Russell Potvin , Tues. May 27, 2014

Amaya Gaming Group Acquiring PokerStars

Recent events in the world of stock trade have sparked rumours and suspicion that PokerStars may be the latest acquisition by Canadian giant Amaya Gaming Group.

The Canadian company, which still has yet to pay for acquisitions it has made in the last few years, gained nearly 14% on it's market share value on Friday, May 23, 2014. Jumps like this often precede mergers and acquisitions in favour of the company that stands to gain the most from the joining of two or more. The beginning of the week saw Amaya trading at only $7.71 per share and Friday closed with the value resting at $10.25 after an unusually busy online casino stock trading day that saw almost 500% increase in trade activity over the previous quarter.

Sources have fed information to news outlets that, though on the surface not the most likely of happenings, PokerStars being brought into Amaya's fold would allow PokerStars to make a triumphant return to markets in the United States with an agreement that is in place between the two. As stated before, Amaya still owes a substantial amount for purchases that it has been making so the technicalities of the deal don't seem quite possible to iron out at first glance.

The most obvious hurdle on the track would be the purchase price of PokerStars, which is privately owned and does not have a market cap in place, allowing it to have such funds as to pay for things like the civil charges that the Black Friday Department of Justice action forced them to pay, $731 million. On the other hand, Amaya has a cap that stops them at $500 million. However, a deal between the two which would bring Amaya to the forefront, allowing them to be the public face for PokerStars operation, and allowing re-entry to the US market through New Jersey, where Amaya already holds a license.

With neither side giving any official statements, positive or negative, there will remain the rumours and possible happenings between these two giants in the world of online gambling. If one is to trust the markets and whisperings of anonymous tipsters on the inside, we could very well be seeing the formation of an even larger company with broader range and possible solutions to the legal troubles of PokerStars founder, Isai Scheinberg, a fellow Canadian. Since there will be well trained eyes on this due to Amaya's status as a publicly traded company, we can expect to not see any hints at internal shuffling between the two until a final announcement is ready to be made.