PokerStars sports betting to launch in Q1 2015

Online operator PokerStars is to introduce its new sports-betting service in the first quarter of 2015, parent company Amaya Gaming has revealed.

The product will initially be launched within the PokerStars poker client in certain regions, with more territories added at a later stage and standalone web and mobile versions introduced later in the year.

It was first announced in November that a sportsbook would be added to PokerStars’ services and that it was beginning to construct a sports-betting trading team, with Amaya CEO David Baazov predicting in June that the expansion of PokerStars and Full Tilt into other verticals could introduce the firm to a market worth an approximate $25bn.

It is yet to be revealed which partner will be providing the software for the sportsbook service but Amaya already has an agreement in place with Offsidegaming, a B2B subsidiary of sportsbook operator OffsideBet.

PokerStars began offering casino games late last year, and early results have apparently revealed a 30% cross-sell into casino games from the PokerStars 7 platform, with the service showing faster growth than the online casino on Full Tilt, another poker operator owned by Amaya.