Amaya Pushes For Tighter Regulations After DFS Scandal
October 12, 2015 10:47 amAmaya Gaming’s US expansion plan is progressing nicely, after its daily fantasy sports platform, StarsDraft, started operating stateside, followed by its PokerStars and Full Tilt brands being cleared to offer their products in the state of New Jersey. Nevertheless, Amaya has fought hard to shake off its ‘bad actor’ label connected to PokerStars’ pre-Black Friday dealings, and this time around the company is determined to stay firmly on the side of integrity and the law.
As a result, Amaya has been quick to react against the recent scandal involving its two largest rivals in the country’s daily fantasy sports market, and is now calling for tougher industry regulations to ensure a greater level of customer protection. Amaya’s latest move is also important in trying to restore the reputation of an industry whose legal status has been under scrutiny for some time, and has now been rocked by allegations of insider trading.
It appears employees at DraftKings and FanDuel participated in daily fantasy contests, and were able to gain an unfair advantage over their customers by accessing “inside” information at their workplace. This issue came to light after a DraftKings employee won $350,000 on a FanDuel contest, and while the companies deny accusations of fraud, the New York Attorney General disagrees and is currently investigating the matter.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Amaya was keen to speak out on the issue, whilst also taking the opportunity to promote its StarsDraft’s brand over those of its competitors. As the company stated:
“Since we entered the DFS category earlier this year, we have 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.”
Needless to say, Amaya is determined to avoid a “Black Friday” type situation reoccurring, like the one which devastated the online poker industry back in 2011. Questions concerning the integrity of the daily fantasy sports industry, therefore, can only serve to attract the attention of the US government, and potentially move it one step closer to launching an investigation of its own into the legal standing of the country’s DFS market.