Amaya shareholders approve rebrand, shifting HQ to Toronto

Canadian online gambling operator Amaya Gaming has won approval for its corporate rebrand as The Stars Group Inc.

Amaya held its last annual general meeting in Montreal on Wednesday, at which shareholders approved the company’s plan to rebrand its operations to better reflect the dominance of its flagship PokerStars brand. The brand switcheroo is expected to be a done deal by the end of August.

It’s been suggested that Amaya’s desire to rebrand is also intended to distance itself from any lingering association with Amaya’s former CEO David Baazov, who is awaiting a November trial on criminal charges of insider trading related to Amaya’s 2014 acquisition of PokerStars parent company, the Rational Group.

The Canadian Press quoted Amaya CEO Rafi Ashkenazi saying the brand rejig wasn’t due to Baazov having ‘tainted’ the Amaya brand, but merely reflected the company having shed its non-core operations in recent years to better focus on growing the PokerStars business. (Regardless, putting distance between the company and Baazov’s ongoing scandals probably doesn’t hurt.)