Pre-tax losses at gaming software firm GameAccount Network (GAN) rose to £2.6m (€3.5m) from £908k in 2014 in the first six months of the year, as the company looks to simulated gaming to drive revenue growth on the back of slow deregulation of online gaming in the US.
Gross income rose to £13.4m in the six months to end-June 2015, from £13.2m in the same period in 2014, but underlying net revenue declined by 6 per cent to £2.9m. Revenue from the company’s simulated gaming arm rose significantly to £1.2m, up from £0.2m in 2014.
Dermot Smurfit, CEO of GAN, said that the company's performance is in line with its plan, pointing to growth in simulated gaming, which now represents over 41 per cent of the company's overall revenue, as well as "encouraging growth" in sustainable market revenues in both New Jersey in the US and Italy in Europe.
“The rapid growth in Simulated GamingTM revenues is particularly important as we believe over time they will substantially compensate for the slower than expected pace of the development of real-money internet gaming in the US,” he said.
Mr Smurfit said that GAN’s financial results continue to be impacted by delays in securing additional system sales, “but we are actively engaged with multiple casino equipment manufacturers and remain confident in our ability to complete a sale either in the fourth quarter of this year or early in 2016.”
GAN will launch two further US operators in the fourth quarter; San Manuel in California and Maryland Live! Casino in Maryland though the deployments are taking place later in the year than expected. GAN said it expects both launches to “gain momentum up to year end and to provide strong growth in simulated gaming revenue for 2016”.
