GAN Ltd. has premiered a new retail wagering platform at a Mississippi casino, marking the first of what the tech firm hopes will be many U.S. business-to-business projects, including potential online sports betting opportunities.
Irvine, Calif.-based GAN announced on Wednesday that it has successfully launched its GAN Sports technology package at Island View Casino Resort in Gulfport, Miss.
The only legal sports betting in Mississippi is at licensed casinos. GAN is now helping power 20 internet-connected kiosks and, soon, a mobile sportsbook that will allow for wagering on smartphones when the player is on the Island View property.
That said, the range of that online sports betting could expand if the state broadens its allowable forms of wagering. While Mississippi lawmakers have yet to pass a bill permitting widespread mobile wagering in the southern state, they could try to do so again.
“GAN will also provide marketing and customer services, delivering a complete end-to-end solution to maximize the client experience,” the company added in a press release. “In addition, statewide mobile sports betting and iGaming are incremental exclusive opportunities for GAN in partnership with Island View Casino Resort in Mississippi if supporting legislation emerges in the future.”
Keeping cool
The latest news from GAN comes as the company is looking to drive revenue growth in its business-to-business segment in the U.S., with GAN Sports a big part of that effort. GAN bought Coolbet in 2021, and the GAN Sports retail platform is based on the online sportsbook’s technology, which has been tweaked to sell to other U.S. businesses.
“We look forward to driving the future growth of [Island View's] existing sportsbook business and increasing the proportion of our B2B revenues derived from U.S. sports betting as we scale this new B2B revenue stream,” GAN CEO Dermot Smurfit said in the release.
GAN booked a net loss of $38.3 million for the three months ended June 30, although revenues in its B2B segment ticked up to $14.2 million from $10.4 million a year earlier.
“The 36% growth was driven primarily by an increase in development services and other revenue, which include hardware sales and organic growth in US real money iGaming,” GAN said in its earnings release.
Another test run
GAN also boasted 260,000 active bettors for its consumer-facing business, up from 187,000 players for the second quarter of 2021.
There may be opportunities in both retail and online sports betting that GAN is hoping to seize in the U.S., such as the potential legalization of event wagering in California if it comes to pass. The company’s pitch to customers is that it can deliver a wide variety of gambling technology, including brick-and-mortar and mobile sports wagering products.
Smurfit noted during the company's second-quarter earnings call in August that the sports-betting technology was “generating significant buzz” and that they were anticipating a “robust live launch schedule” for 2023. The CEO mentioned they expect a “field technical trial” for the platform in Las Vegas in partnership with Red Rock Resorts.
“As more states come online, we are uniquely positioned to provide clients with a full suite of enterprise solutions that gets them up, running and winning,” Smurfit said, according to a transcript. “From this perspective, there is really no true competitor to GAN that can deliver this kind of comprehensive offering across so many states today.”
