Breaking: Playtech prepares Nevada licence application
Software "powerhouse" just "weeks away" from applying for a service provider licence in Nevada - could announce larger strategic deal next quarter, its chief executive has told eGaming Review.
Playtech is just “weeks away” from applying for a service provider licence in Nevada and could announce a larger strategic deal in the next quarter, its chief executive has told eGaming Review.
Following this morning’s annual results announcement that saw its gross income rise 41% to 243.6m in the last 12 months, Mor Weizer told eGR that the software “powerhouse” was preparing to submit a licence application in order to supply potential operators in the west coast US state.
This would make Playtech the 22nd potential licensee to apply for a licence in Nevada. Once the application is in the company, its senior management team and major shareholders will then undergo a series of stringent probity tests and investigations that will take a minimum of nine months and cost several million dollars. If it passes Playtech would then be free to provide software to licensed operators and casinos.
Weizer also revealed that the company had gone through “certain probity checks” in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maine, three states that have granted Sportech, in which Playtech owns a 10% stake, an operator licence. Sportech acquired Scientific Games Racing in 2010 for an initial US$65m, renaming it Sportech Racing. SGR operates pari-mutuel pools betting in some of the country’s largest race tracks as well as off-track betting in New York state. Scientific Games owns a 19.9% stake.
“We have gone through certain probity checks in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maine, due to our Sportech investment and software agreement we have with them,” Weizer said.
“We are also already considered as a major supplier to Sportech which not only supplies product in the US, but also holds an operator licence itself and operates certain activities, so we have gone through this process in New Jersey and are preparing for the same process in Nevada. The Nevada application will be ready within a matter of weeks.”
Asked why it has taken Playtech so long to prepare for and apply for a Nevada licence Weizer said the company needed time to “gather all the right information, and analyse, prepare and understand what the process would look like”.
“We want to better understand because we are talking about an interactive form of online gaming that does not exist today and we are preparing it and we will apply soon,” he explained.
Asked whether it was looking to sign a strategic partnership with a large casino group or US operator in Nevada and/or other states, Weizer said the company had a “very thorough plan” for the US and that in the coming months “you will hear more about Playtech and its activities and agreements that we will put in place in the US”.
He added that its deal and relationship with the California Online Poker Association (COPA), a coalition of California tribes and card rooms, that according to Weizer operates 75% of all poker traffic in the state remained “strong” as did Sciplay, its now non-exclusive agreement and joint venture with Scientific Games.
The previously exclusive JV with US lottery and gaming supplier Scientific Games was reduced to a “strategic partnership” in January with both parties now free to pitch to prospective customers separately from one another, whereas under the previous terms of the deal they would only offer joint products and services. So far its deal with COPA is the only agreement Sciplay has agreed since signing the JV two years ago.
Weizer was keen to downplay the significance of the “restructure” and sid that “the reality is that it gives both parties far more flexibility”.
“The original agreement we had exclusivity for the lottery market, now it goes beyond this and we can co-operate on different levels, so it can also be casinos and other operations in the US which is a positive thing for both companies. COPA is up and running with play-for-fun [poker] and virtual currency and they are establishing themselves as an interactive operator in California ahead of regulations there.
“We are working with them in various jurisdictions as we speak. Things that started before we changed the agreement and things that came after the non-exclusive deal was agreed. There is a close co-operation between both companies and we are in discussions with regards to specific markets and opportunities almost on a daily basis, if not on a daily basis. I can’t refer to anything concrete now but there are definitely opportunities underway in various markets and we will update the market in due course,” he added.