Amaya Gaming: 2012 Cantech Letter TSXV Tech Stock of the Year

Amaya Gaming is the 2012 Cantech Letter TSX Venture Tech Stock of the Year.

Cantech Letter Awards judge Ralph Garcea says Amaya Gaming’s aggressive expansion has established a diversified revenue stream from software licensing, finance leases and sales. What’s more, he says, Amaya is becoming a global player, with strength in North America, Europe and the Caribbean. Garcea believes that Amaya’s recent acquisitions will drive it to $57-million in EBITDA on revenue of $155-million by the end of 2013.

Amaya Gaming, which was founded in 2004 and IPO’d on the TSX Venture Exchange in July of 2010, has in the past designed electronic table games that allow players to remotely play majong, bingo or horse racing. But the company vaulted to public attention early in 2011 when it secured a license from the Betting Control and Licensing Board of Kenya to operate online gaming. Amaya diversified its reach last year when it acquired struggling Calgary-based Chartwell Technologies in July for just under $23 million, and followed that with the December pickup of Cryptologic, a company founded in 1995 by brothers Andrew and Mark Rivkin that became one of the world’s largest online gaming platform providers, but was also struggling.

But 2012 was Amaya Gaming’s statement year. Amaya paid €15m for the Ongame poker network, then made a bigger splash with the $177-million pickup of Cadillac Jack, which has machine placements in more than 200 venues in the United States and Mexico.

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