Amaya targets sports betting in France, Italy ahead of Euro 2016

Amaya has announced plans to launch sports betting services in France and Italy prior to this summer’s Uefa European Championship national football team event.

Taking place in locations across France from June 10 to July 10, Euro 2016 is the showpiece tournament of Uefa, the governing body for football in Europe.

Amaya-owned PokerStars has already launched its BetStars sports betting brand in various regions around the world, with the company now keen to expand this service offering to France and Italy within the next few weeks.

Rafi Askenazi, interim chief executive at Amaya, told investors that although the Italy launch is “actually quite imminent”, the company is still working with French regulator ARJEL in the hope of launching the service ahead of the country’s hosting of the tournament.

“We are currently working with ARJEL and we are really hoping that this process with the regulator in France will be finalised before the Euro,” Askenazi said.

“The plan that we have is ‘yes, we do want to have it before,’ but it’s really not up to us; it’s a process which is going on with the regulator in France.”

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