Amaya Gaming’s PokerStars brand has officially launched its new BetStars sports betting product.
On Friday, Amaya announced BetStars’ official arrival in select jurisdictions via the domains Betstars.com, Betstars.eu and Betstars.uk, as well as iOS and Android apps. BetStars’ technology is supplied by UK software outfit Amelco, whose other clients include Betfair, William Hill and Mybet.
Amaya’s foray into the sports betting world saw PokerStars take its first wagers in Q1, while Amaya acquired the BetStars domains in November. That same month, Amaya announced it was delaying the rollout of “significant aspects” of its sportsbook in order to ensure the product was up to snuff before its official debut.
BetStars is offering wagers on 25 sports to start, in addition to an eSports product. Amaya says it will continue to expand the product range in 2016, including adding a horseracing option plus the debut of an “innovative new betting product” which it believes will distinguish its offering from that of its competition.
Amaya says BetStars will continue to expand into new markets throughout 2016, with the target of reaching half of PokerStars’ current customers by the end of the year. To help reach this goal, Amaya will launch an external customer acquisition campaign in H1.
In its Q3 earnings report, Amaya said its sports betting vertical had attracted just 100k unique active customers since its March launch and that revenue remained “negligible” despite significant growth (from a very low base) in Q3. The UK is the most hotly contested sports betting market on the planet but PokerStars appears to believe that it can compete if it can just convince a small slice of its poker customers not to venture off the site to place their wagers.
