/ THE BRIEFING / NEWS
NO
YES
THE BIG DEBATE
THIS MONTH, WE ASK:
WILL POKERSTARS DOMINATE THE US EGAMING
MARKET IF IT COMPLETES THE SALE TO AMAYA?
MARCUS YODER
ALEX CZAJKOWSKI
Former IGT executive director of sales and business development
Consultant, Agency Lex
A
mericans love big
brands. Given the choice
between the branded pharmaceutical and the generic,
despite the former being five
times the price of the latter,
they waffle for a moment
and then take the brand.
There’s an inherent trust in
big brands and familiarity
does not breed contempt.
Based on my pre-New Jersey poker launch surveys of
players in the state, I wasn’t
surprised to see The Borgata
run away with the market,
followed by the WSOP. The
former is a super strong New
Jersey brand, the latter a
strong US brand. Everyone
else is, well, everyone else.
But throw PokerStars in the
US mix and you definitely get
a “things that make you go
‘hmmm’ moment”. They really
owned the US market. When
I asked 7,000 or so New
Jersey poker players, now
well served by several poker
suppliers, if they’d return to
PokerStars, the response was
a quick and emphatic yes.
W W W. E G R M A G A Z I N E . C O M
PokerStars is one of the
few online gaming brands to
have really built awareness.
Stars branding remains so
strong that a friend of mine
wearing an old “I <3 PS”
T-shirt was approached while
shopping and asked “poker
player eh? I like PokerStars
too.” I often say there are no
real ‘brands’ in our industry,
only utilitarian operators, but
PokerStars may well be the
exception.
So while The Borgata’s
reach is limited to the Atlantic
North East, Stars does extend
across the country’s collective
memory of once-fun poker
sites. Can Amaya resurrect
that brand and return it to
dominance in the country
where poker really does
still matter? Jurisdiction by
jurisdiction, I’d have to say yes.
Blockbuster once meant Friday night videos (and horrendous late fees on a hungover
Sunday morning); PokerStars
once meant online poker and
you can bet your Moneymaker
that it could again.
T
he pending acquisition
of PokerStars by Amaya
certainly poses several
questions. Domination of the
US market is one of them, but
several others remain that
will need to be answered.
First, will shareholders,
regulatory bodies, and the Ontario Securities Commission,
even allow the acquisition?
Second, will Amaya, a publicly
traded company in a regulated industry, have to shut
down any existing PokerStars
efforts that might be operating in non-regulated markets?
That would affect revenue
streams and the ability for
Amaya to pay down debt
incurred in the transaction.
Third, will Amaya now
be seen as primarily a B2C
company potentially affecting
B2B operations in New Jersey,
future B2B offerings in those
US states that are in the