Stars & Tilt sold for 4.9 billion

[daneblazer]

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/17371-report-pokerstars-could-be-sold-to-amaya-gaming-group

Bloomberg reported on Thursday that PokerStars, the world’s largest poker website in terms of traffic, reached a deal to be sold to Amaya Gaming Group. The price tag is $4.9 billion.
Amaya is a maker of gambling equipment and systems.
The Canada-based group also 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 in New Jersey.
According to the report, PokerStars being under new ownership might give the firm a better chance at re-entry into the United States. In April 2011, PokerStars, along with gambling sites Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, fell into hot water with the federal government for allegedly violating federal statutes involving bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling. PokerStars eventually settled without admitting to any wrongdoing with its former U.S.-facing business. PokerStars had to pay $731 million in the settlement.
The firm’s founder, Isai Scheinberg, remains under indictment.
PokerStars has tried to get a foothold in the regulated markets of Nevada and New Jersey, but it hasn’t been able to do so. PokerStars has a partnership with a California tribe in anticipation of online poker eventually being legalized in the Golden State.
More than a dozen tribes in California have come to a consensus on language that would be unfavorable to PokerStars’ chances of offering online poker to Californians.

[TwoWays]

those were the days. poker in its hay-day just like 5 yrs ago. bad buy.

[pureajb]

If you live in New Jersey you can play online real money poker @ WSOP website. Hopefully this spreads to other states as well.

[Auto Donk]

If you live in New Jersey you can play online real money poker @ WSOP website. Hopefully this spreads to other states as well.

agreed.......

[jjgold]

If not multi state poker forget it

They must know something to pay this price

[Sledge187]

Bring on Texas!

[homie1975]

Overpaid no doubt

[Jedi Mind Picks]

Good news for poker in the U.S.

[RGG]

Seems like a lot

[jjgold]

Hopefully regulation is going to change in USA as far as poker

Without mingled pools meaning multistate poker cannot survive

[BiTeMe UsAdOj]

Unfortunately, Gov Cuomo is firmly on-record as saying NO online poker in NY
Makes me so pissed I can't see straight when I dwell on it; these politico assholios really need to die a slow, painful death
I'm considering hiring tt to go 'round and sit on every fukkin one of em

The problem is the assholios sold their political souls to the lobbyists for the new B&M casinos that are gonna be built on non-Indian land throughout NY. Oh sure, someday in the far off future the B&M's might decide to go online a la Jersey BUT it ain't happening anytime soon.

Like many, I miss PS & FT like a mofo and having to play poker in casinos since Black Friday is a drag in many respects; only good news for me, I guess, is the new casino coming to Springfield, Ma. -- I'm that way frequently and I won't have to haul it to Foxwoods.

Seriously, what countries can't you play on PS & FT anymore?... The U.S. and Saudi Arabia? Fukkin joke and an embarrassment for the "Land of the Free". And of course as mentioned, online poker in U.S. will never really work until multi-state player pools are created or the big boys are allowed back in.

Anyone have tt's home #?

[pureajb]

What about those poor handicapped people that can't make it to the casino to play live? Maybe we can use that as our argument

[tony_come]

Inside infor

[jjgold]

America sucks

Lets never forget that

Politicians destroyed it for their own financial gain

[daneblazer]

You walk through poker rooms sometimes now and there's fukkin tumbleweeds blowing through them. It's nothing like 5+ years ago.

These casinos are either too fukkin stupid or blind with greed to realize making online poker legal actually increases interest in the game and fills their B&M rooms up again.

[BiTeMe UsAdOj]

You walk through poker rooms sometimes now and there's fukkin tumbleweeds blowing through them. It's nothing like 5+ years ago.

These casinos are either too fukkin stupid or blind with greed to realize making online poker legal actually increases interest in the game and fills their B&M rooms up again.

Perfectly said.

I go to Turning Stone & Foxwoods and while they're both consistently still busy, it's still nothing like the poker halcyon days where every recreational Joe was playing because of the EASE of moving money on and off the online sites. 100% this spilled over to the B&M's poker rooms. Player pool shrunk obviously b/c of the difficulty of moving the money around, not disinterest in the game itself.

I know a lot of people are convinced poker has seen its biggest boom never to be repeated, but I'd sure like to see what would happen in a legal environment w/trusted sites with money easily transferred around (again). I play on a Turning Stone online site, for example, get comps in their physical casino... c'mon, this isn't rocket science.

I think the casinos stupidity & greed manifests itself when they look at the huge numbers a PokerStars rakes in and they wrongly conclude that's money that they're losing in their B&M. Have to keep them outta the market... we'll get that money! WRONG. Not how it works, morons.

And don't get me started on the politicians fukked up $$$ angle......