Canada's Amaya Gaming will buy the company that owns online sites PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker for $4.9 billion, in a deal that will create the world's largest publicly-traded online gaming company, according to a statement issued Thursday.
The unlisted Oldford Group is the parent company of Rational Group Ltd., the world’s largest poker business and owner and operator of the PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker brands.
PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker "are collectively the world’s most popular and profitable online poker brands with more than 85 million registered players on desktop and mobile devices," Amaya added.
Founded in 2004 and listed on the Toronto stock exchange, Amaya offers products ranging from slot machines to software for online betting.
The acquisition will mean that Amaya Gaming will overtake Bwin as the biggest public online gaming company in the world, Amaya said.