Amaya calls for tougher state regulation of daily fantasy sports in the United States

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Oct 08, 2015, 07:49 ET

MONTREAL, Oct. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - Amaya Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA, TSX: AYA) ("Amaya"), the world's largest publicly traded real money online gaming company and owner of the daily fantasy sports ("DFS") brand StarsDraft, has provided the following comment regarding the lack of regulation of DFS in the United States:

The recent incidents involving the practices of certain leading companies in DFS demonstrate that the current self-regulatory practices have fallen short and that the industry is in need of stricter state regulation similar to existing regulatory and consumer protection measures to which other gaming activities and their operators are subject.

Amaya and StarsDraft fully support, and are launching active efforts to work with state regulators to enact legislation regarding, the adoption of state regulations that safeguard players and the implementation of related controls to ensure all operators are held to a high standard of consumer protection and business integrity.

Amaya is one of the most licensed online gaming companies in the world and has a longstanding history of working responsibly and in partnership with regulators around the globe. Since Amaya entered the DFS category earlier this year, it has brought regulated gaming best practices to StarsDraft's already responsible business operations, including segregating player funds from operational funds and ensuring stringent controls that meet the demands of our compliance, audit and security departments. In addition to "know your customer", age and location verification, these controls include strictly monitoring, recording and restricting access to sensitive information and data, and will include the implementation of encryption schemes for all line-up data in upcoming contests.

Amaya and StarsDraft have not only implemented a policy of suspending employee participation in competitor DFS contests, but continue to work towards instituting a framework and process that restricts access to competitive and sensitive data and creates an auditable trail if and when access to that data is required through the normal course of business. Additionally, Amaya and StarsDraft continuously review, revise and update their Terms and Conditions to address these matters, among others, and have restricted access to its contests by individuals that may have data, or access to data, that could infringe on contest integrity.

Consumer and player protection is and will remain of paramount importance to Amaya and StarsDraft. Beyond its current audit, compliance and security controls, Amaya's StarsDraft DFS platform strives to lead the industry using innovative features geared towards casual sports fans. Amaya and StarsDraft are committed to providing a fun, fair and engaging DFS experience for all customers, including through explicitly forbidding the use of professional automated scripts and bots in its contests.

StarsDraft also provides a "Bankroll Builder" program, which allows users to learn more about DFS in a risk-free environment, and offer a suite of anonymous head-to-head competitions, which ensures that users are playing against other sports fans in randomized matchups of skill.

ABOUT AMAYA
Amaya is a leading provider of technology-based solutions, products and services in the global gaming and interactive entertainment industries. Amaya owns gaming and related consumer businesses and brands including PokerStars, Full Tilt, StarsDraft, the European Poker Tour, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Latin American Poker Tour and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour. These brands have more than 95 million cumulative registered customers globally and collectively form the largest poker business in the world, comprising online poker games and tournaments, live poker competitions, branded poker rooms in popular casinos in major cities around the world, and poker programming created for television and online audiences. Amaya, through certain of these brands, also offers non-poker gaming products, including casino, sportsbook and daily fantasy sports. Amaya has various gaming and gaming-related licenses or approvals throughout the world, including from the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Spain, Estonia, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Ireland, Romania, the Isle of Man, Malta, the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, the province of Quebec in Canada, and the State of New Jersey in the United States.