Amaya to launch StarsDraft DFS product

ider Amaya Gaming, the owner of operator PokerStars, has announced it has acquired daily fantasy sports (DFS) operator Victiv and will rebrand it as StarsDraft.

Management of the DFS business will be handled by the current Victiv team and the rebranded site will be initially relaunched at StarsDraft.com in select US markets.

StarsDraft will feature the Victiv software.

Victiv CEO Matthew Primeaux said: "StarsDraft will combine Victiv's innovative platform and experienced DFS team with Amaya's expansive consumer base and operational excellence as the world's preeminent online gaming brand.

"We intend to capitalise on what we believe is strong crossover between online poker players and daily fantasy sports.”

Amaya CEO David Baazov announced at an earnings call in March that Amaya plans to launch a DFS product in time for the start of the 2015 National Football League regular season in September.

It was confirmed at the same earnings call that Amaya expects PokerStars to launch in New Jersey in the third quarter of this year.

The announcement of the Victiv acquisition was made on the same day that Amaya reported a 5% year-on-year revenue increase to $656.9m for the first six months of 2015.

Amaya said it has repaid an approximate $529m of long-term debt since completing the acquisition of Oldford Group, the parent company of Rational Group, the previous owner of PokerStars, for a purchase price of $4.9bn in August last year.