MONTREAL,
June 14, 2017
/PRNewswire/ - Amaya Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA) today
announced the appointment of Jerry
Bowskill as Chief Technology Officer of Amaya, effective
immediately.
Dr. Bowskill joins the company today and will be
responsible for the overall technology performance and strategy of
the business. Reporting directly to Rafi Ashkenazi, Chief Executive
Officer of Amaya, Dr. Bowskill will drive and execute the strategic
technology vision of the business to maximize the potential of its
expanding product suite and its impact on Amaya's millions of
current and future customers. Dr. Bowskill will lead a team of more
than 300 technologists and developers worldwide.
"Jerry's wealth of technical expertise and commercial
experience will be a great asset for our gaming and interactive
brands. I look forward to working closely with him again," said Mr.
Ashkenazi.
"I am excited to be joining such a continuously evolving
consumer tech company and to help lead its growth
through the efficient delivery of high quality products and
services, development of innovative new products, and continued
expansion of its offerings," said Dr.
Bowskill.
Immediately prior to joining Amaya, Dr. Bowskill was a
technology consultant for Partis Solutions, a global leader in the
provision of corporate services to the interactive gaming industry
from January 2017 to June 2017. Prior to that, Dr. Bowskill was the
Chief Technology Officer of TouchTunes Interactive Networks, the
largest in-venue interactive music and entertainment platform, from
September 2015 to November 2016. From May
2012 to September 2015, Dr.
Bowskill served in a variety of roles at Scientific Games
Corporation (Nasdaq: SGMS), a leading developer of technology-based
products and services and associated content for worldwide gaming
and lottery markets, including as its Chief Architect and as a
founding stakeholder and the Chief Technology Officer of SG
Interactive, the Internet product division of Scientific Games.
Prior to Scientific Games, Dr. Bowskill was the Technology and
Solutions Director at Playtech plc (LSE: PTEC), a leading online
gaming software development company, following its acquisition of
Gaming Technology Solutions in 2009, where he was a co-founder and
served as the Director of Technology and Division Chief Executive
Officer while the company created a leading open-platform based
online gaming development ecosystem. Dr. Bowskill began his
professional career as a research scientist, holding several roles
within British Telecom's advanced applications & technology
research group. As a researcher, he authored over 40 academic
publications and was a research associate, investigating wearable
and contextual computing, at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology's "Media Lab". Dr. Bowskill has a
BSc (Honours) degree in Microelectronics and Information Processing
and a Ph.D in image processing, each from the University of
Brighton in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Bowskill is the most recent addition to a strong
management team that has been bolstered over the last year with the
appointment of Mr. Ashkenazi as Chief Executive Officer, the hiring
of Brian Kyle as Chief Financial
Officer, Robin Chhabra as Corporate
Development Officer, Bo Wänghammar
as Managing Director of PokerStars Casino, and Zeno Ossko as Managing Director of BetStars, and
the promotion of Guy Templer as
Chief Operating Officer of Amaya's brands.
About Amaya
Amaya is a leading provider of technology-based products
and services in the global gaming and interactive entertainment
industries. Amaya ultimately owns gaming and related consumer
businesses and brands including PokerStars, PokerStars Casino,
BetStars, Full Tilt, StarsDraft, and the PokerStars Championship
and PokerStars Festival live poker tour brands (incorporating
aspects of the European Poker Tour, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure,
Latin American Poker Tour and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour). These
brands have more than 111 million cumulative registered customers
globally and collectively form the largest poker business in the
world, comprising online poker games and tournaments, sponsored
live poker competitions, marketing arrangements for branded poker
rooms in popular casinos in major cities around the world, and
poker programming and content created for television and online
audiences. Amaya, through certain of these brands, also offers
non-poker gaming products, including casino, sportsbook and daily
fantasy sports. Amaya, through certain of its subsidiaries, is
licensed or approved to offer, or offers under third party licenses
or approvals, its products and services in various jurisdictions
throughout the world, including in Europe, both within and outside of the
European Union, the Americas and elsewhere. In particular,
PokerStars is the world's most licensed online gaming brand,
holding licenses or related operating approvals in 17
jurisdictions.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking
Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements and
information within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 and applicable securities laws, including,
without limitation, certain expectations related to the appointment
of Dr. Bowskill as the new Chief Technology Officer and the
future performance of Dr. Bowskill and Amaya as a result
thereof. Forward-looking statements can, but may not always, be
identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "plan",
"continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "intend", "could",
"might", "would", "should", "believe", and similar references to
future periods or the negatives of these words and expressions.
These statements are based on management's current expectations and
are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions,
including market and economic conditions, business prospects or
opportunities, future plans and strategies, projections,
technological developments, anticipated events and trends and
regulatory changes that affect Amaya, its customers and its
industries. Although Amaya and management believe the expectations
reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable and are
based on reasonable assumptions and estimates, there can be no
assurance that these assumptions or estimates are accurate or that
actual results will not differ materially from those expressed or
implied in forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements
are inherently subject to significant business, regulatory,
economic and competitive risks, uncertainties and contingencies
that could cause actual events to differ materially from those
expressed or implied in such statements. Specific risks and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to, Amaya's appointment
of Dr. Bowskill and expectations related to the future
performance of Dr. Bowskill and Amaya as a result thereof, and
those identified under the heading "Risk Factors and Uncertainties"
in Amaya's Annual Information Form for the year ended
December 31, 2016 and "Risk Factors and Uncertainties",
"Limitations of Key Metrics and Other Data" and "Key Metrics" in
its Management's Discussion & Analysis for the three
months ended March 31, 2017, each available on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com, EDGAR at www.sec.gov and Amaya's website at
www.amaya.com, and in other filings that Amaya has made and may
make with applicable securities authorities in the future.
Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on
forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement speaks
only as of the date hereof, and Amaya undertakes no obligation to
correct or update any forward-looking statement, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as
required by applicable law.
The appointment to the position named above may be subject
to gaming or other legal and regulatory approval, in which case the
appointment is not effective until such approval is obtained, if at
all. Amaya may be making this announcement on behalf of an
affiliate or subsidiary and, in such a case, is not the employer of
the individual featured in the announcement.
SOURCE Amaya Inc.