In an article that eGaming Reviewpublished on Friday, Amaya CEO David Baazov (pictured) reiterated his company’s commitment to an online casino and sports book following the acquisition of the Rational Group, the parent company of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. The transaction officially closed earlier this month, well ahead of schedule.

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Baazov was quoted by EGR as saying that the acquisition of the Rational Group “has provided Amaya with a ‘strong platform for growth in revenues and profitability.’ He also said the deal offered ‘an enormous opportunity’ to ‘take advantage of opportunities in online casino and sports book.'”

In order to soothe concerns of those who have pointed out that PokerStars‘ success in poker has come at least in part because the company has almost exclusively focused on the game, Baazov added, “With respect to the new verticals, we are determined that they do not provide any disruption to the core poker offering and that the new vertical offerings are as robust and enjoyable as Rational’s online poker.”

Last month, Full Tilt Poker dropped the word “Poker” from its domain, which is now simply FullTilt.com. According to PocketFives’ article at the time, “A ‘fully-featured casino client‘ is supposedly in the works for later this year and, speaking on the strengths of PokerStars and Full Tilt, Amaya officials said that the two sites ‘do not only have the ability to attract new players, but they are also able to offer popular tables and slot games to their millions of players using their poker platforms.'”

Rumors have been swirling that PokerStars and Full Tilt could launch in New Jersey, one of three regulated markets in the US, as soon as October, which is a scant two months away. In New Jersey, PokerStars could take on the role of a poker-centric brand, while Full Tilt could offer an array of casino games. The likely land-based casino partner for both brands is Resorts.

It should be noted that New Jersey lacks legalized sports betting.

Amaya’s acquisition of the Rational Group came with a price tag of $4.9 billion and a mountain of debt for the Canadian firm. Nevertheless, Amaya is now the largest publicly traded online gambling firm on the face of the Earth.

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