When asked about the investigation, Eric Hollreiser, Amaya’s head of corporate communications, stresses the fact that there have been no charges filed. “We have done an internal review — conducted by the former head of the RMCP — which found no wrongdoing at Amaya,” he says. “We’re confident the AMF will come to the same conclusion.”
Money is not a driving factor in my motivation.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that despite the fame — and the insane influx of cash that the Rational mega-deal gave him — Baazov has maintained a low profile. His team says he runs the business frugally, with an eye ever-trained to the numbers.
His relationship to this newfound wealth and power and influence is at heart a conservative one. “Money is not a driving factor in my motivation,” he says. “Challenges motivate me. The more someone says I can’t do something, the more it pushes me to do it.” He drives a Range Rover, sure, and he collects watches. He travels frequently, and last year he flew 23 people in his extended family to the Bahamas for Christmas. But he still lives in the same neighbourhood he grew up in.
It’s still possible for Baazov to stay on his winning streak – if he plays his cards right. “If he can distance himself from the insider trading allegations, or quietly settle, and return to his persona as an ambitious relationship builder,” says Weitzner, “maybe by crafting new partnerships with players in the provincial government who have expressed interest in the potential tax revenue offered by online gaming, he may yet prove to be the savior of an industry that appears to be in decline,” Weitzner says.
For his part, Baazov remains characteristically optimistic, in spite of the mounting pressures. He is, instead — as usual — focused on the horizon. On the next move. He promises it will be a big one.
