PokerStars fined $870 million
Amaya Inc., owners of PokerStars and Full Tilt has received a huge fine from a Kentucky court on December 23.
As Judge Thomas Wingate explained, PokerStars broke the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) law between 2006 - 2011. According to Wingate, this caused $290 million in damages in the state despite Amaya's claims that the damages were only $18 million.
Judge Wingate also decided to use a 150 year-old law to triple the damages to $870 million and he also put a 12% interest rate on the money, which is an additional $104 million a year until the fine has been paid.
Marlon Goldstein, Amaya's executive VP stated that the fine is absurd and that the company will appeal to the decision.
''This is a frivolous and egregious misuse of an antiquated state statute to enrich the contingent-fee plaintiff's attorneys hired by the commonwealth and not the people of Kentucky. A damages award in excess of $800 million is notable only for its absurdity. "
The case is even more interesting considering that the law was broken not by Amaya, but by the company's previous owners (Amaya only bought the room in 2014 for $4.9 billion). Amaya has stated that they will pursue the previous owners for the money if their apeal fails.
The previous owners have already paid $547 million to the Departmant of Justice and paid out all the Full Tilt customers balances so it's unlikely that they are ready to pay fines once again.
Amaya shares dropped once again after the news broke, currently they are at a 1-year low.
Betfair leaves Canada
Betfair Poker has sent a short statement to its Canadian players, informing them that they will no longer be able to access the online gambling sections of the site, including the poker room from January 14.
They have asked every Canadian player to withdraw their balances until January 14 , after this they have to contact the support team to receive their money.
Betfair gave no reason for the decision but it's likely that they have left the market due to online sportsbetting laws.
Another rumor is that the room left the market because of their recent merger with Paddy Power, who has left the sportsbetting and online poker market a long time ago but runs a very profitable, legal lottery service.
