Amaya Appoints Paul Leggett Online Gaming Head
Many eyebrows have been raised over Amaya Gaming's choice for new head of online gambling, Paul Leggett, the former Chief Executive Officer of controversial online poker room, Absolute Poker.
Leggett will replace Paul Bertilsson who will continue on with Amaya Gaming, but in a consultancy capacity only.
The main reason for Leggett's appointment is to oversee one of Amaya Gaming's gems, its Ongame Network, which is expected to see major growth as Amaya heads into the lucrative US gambling market.
Leggett Hiring is Controversial
The former chief of Absolute Poker may be very experienced in the world of online gambling, especially when it comes to the North American market, but his hiring is not without controversy.
The reason is that Absolute Poker, which also owned the UB.com brand, was forced to halt operations when the US Department of Justice cracked down on the company on Sunday, April 2011, which is known infamously as Black Friday.
It is not sure how welcome Leggett will be made to feel in states such as Nevada which recently changed its online gambling and poker legislation, including the introduction of a 'bad actor' provision. This provision essentially shuts the door to US facing gambling sites which operated in the post Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) years.
Taking the Reins of the Ongame Network
But controversial or not, Paul Leggett seems to be the man for the job as Amaya Gaming moves forward with the development of the Ongame Network, which it acquired from Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment for a reduced price.
The network is one of the oldest in the industry and was in existence even before the UIGEA. Ongame Network was first operated by BetAndWin and was home to sites such as PokerRoom.com, Hollywood Poker and Bwin.
After Bwin merged with Party Poker in 2011, the joint entity realized that they had a surplus of online poker products and thus opted to look for a buyer for the Ongame Network.
While Shuffle Master was meant to purchase the network, it later backed out of the deal and it was then sold to Amaya Gaming.
It is not sure how Leggett's appointment will impact Amaya Gaming's growth in the US market, but it is assumed that important considerations such as these were taken into account before a contract was signed with the new Amaya Gaming online gambling head.
