How does a little known purveyor of gaming products and services toiling in an office park in suburban Montreal snatch a seat at the table with the online gambling industry’s biggest eaters? Engineer a $4.9 billion deal to gobble up Poker Stars, the world’s foremost poker website, and Full Tilt Poker in the summer of 2014 for starters. With that bet, Amaya Gaming Group vaulted into the position as the world’s largest publicly held online gambling company.
Amaya started in 2004 as a software manufacturer for electronic poker tables and was soon producing products and services for online casino, poker, sports book, platform, lotteries and slot machines. The Canadian firm signed up some of the world’s largest gaming operations as clients but Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Baazov was most interested in pursuing a strategy of growth through acquisition.
Amaya’s takeover targets have included software provider CryptoLogic with its catalogue of over 300 casino games and traditional slot machine manufacturer Cadillac Jack. The company also bought Diamond Game Enterprises that turns out casino and lottery games. To date Poker Stars has dominated the online poker market without benefit of the United States market since the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006 and Amaya’s primary goal is to open up the American market again. To do that may require as much dexterity as paying five billion pounds for a business when your yearly revenues are about 155 Canadian dollars.
Amaya Casino Games
Cadillac Jack makes an impressive statement on the casino floor with Strato cabinets that soar over eight feet high. Its Connect to Win series seeks to simplify the pay-out system to make the gaming experience easy to understand while the Hot Streak series piles up multipliers with each successive spin to bring players impressive rewards. For progressive jackpots the Mega Money Maker offers five independent in-game bonuses linked to five multi-level progressives.
Amaya brings its land-based expertise to the online gaming world with over 300 top-of-the-line casino titles deigned to engage players of any interest or bankroll. Amaya has lined up exclusive branded content for DC Comics that bring such popular superheroes as Batman, Superman, The Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman to online players. Movie fans will recognize the adventures of Paramount studio stars King Kong and Conan the Barbarian.
Amaya tapped into its impressive repertoire of casino games to build its mobile casino presence beginning with its most popular titles: Lost Temple, Bars ‘n Bells, Chilli Gold, Diamond Tower and Frogs ‘n Flies. All are optimized for the latest smartphones and tablets and retain the features from the full-sized versions.
Amaya brings a comprehensive suite of premium land-based table games to online casinos with Three Card Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold’em, Casino War, Crazy 4 Poker, and Let it Ride all available for operators to leverage their own brands. With enhanced live streaming video gamers can get real-time access to their favourite table games while interacting with professional dealers.
Amaya’s poker offerings are designed to bring fast-paced action to players and profits to casinos. Mobile poker allows cash games for real money with the Amaya poker app available for both the Apple IOS platform and the Android platform. Instant Rewards lets player’s cash in on achievable incentives in real time.
To keep the cards dealing and the chips flying Strobe Poker allows mobile players to move on to a new table as soon as a hand is folded at a previous table. If this quick fast-fold feature does not keep the action humming at top speed for players Amaya also offers over thirty one-button Side Games to play while a hand plays outs.