GUY TEMPLER APPOINTED CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER OF RATIONAL GROUP

ONCHAN, Isle of Man – December 21, 2016 – Guy Templer has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of Rational Group, the operator of the world’s largest poker business, PokerStars, an Amaya Inc. (NASDAQ: AYA; TSX: AYA) brand.

Templer, who is currently Chief Strategy Officer, will assume the role January 1 and will continue to report to Rafi Ashkenazi, CEO of Amaya and Rational Group, and will be responsible for the day-to-day management of significant parts of the organization, including, but not limited to, Customer Support, Security & Integrity, Information Security, and Payments, and will continue to be responsible for the teams launching core products into new markets and adding new verticals within existing markets.

Templer joined PokerStars in 2011 as Group Director of Business Development and Strategy and has directed key initiatives ��6,457,486.

The Trio Series celebrated PokerStars becoming the first online operator to offer a shared player pool between the three countries since Portugal joined the union last month and saw 40,816 unique players take part in the 78-event schedule from June 3-13. The Main Event surpassed its €500,000 guarantee to reach €615,195, with winner ‘Ineed1000ETH’ from Spain beating 2,645 other players to take home €71,917.47.

PokerStars’ success with the Trio Series follows France and Spain’s very own Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP), which surpassed its record-breaking €10 million guarantee to reach €11,768,035. Earlier in the year, PokerStars FRESH (France Espania Hold’em) Series for French and Spanish players also exceeded its €5M guarantee, reaching €6,149,751.

“We’ve had great success with our various series in shared liquidity regions and it’s brilliant to see the Trio Series carry on this trend,” said Severin Rasset, Director of Product Innovation and Operations at The Stars Group. “We believe that this has strengthened our offering in Southern Europe and we will continue to work hard to give our players the best experience in the market. Players benefit from the shared player pool between Portugal, Spain and France in all aspects of the poker offering and we hope that Italian players will benefit from the same great offer soon.”

In January 2018, PokerStars was the first operator to enable players from France and Spain to play together online. Regulators in Italy have reiterated their intentions to join the shared market with Portugal, France and Spain. The Stars Group intends to seek approval to enter into such shared player pool market if and when it becomes available.

For further information, please contact press@pokerstars.com

---