Probability hopeful of sealing US casino partnerships
Mobile gaming firm in talks with two casinos as it reports 20% decline in net gaming revenue for six months ended 30 September 2013
Mobile operator Probability is in advanced talks with two US casino firms over online gaming partnerships as it looks to expand its B2B arm and reduce its reliance on B2C income.
The company, which this morning reported a 20% drop in net gaming revenues for the six months ended 30 September 2013, said the potential deals are a major part of its strategy to focus on B2B growth in 2014.
Revenues from that part of the business, including Italian B2B operations, grew 10% to £1m during the period compared to H1.
EBITDA losses for the period amounted to £1.4m compared to a loss of £0.5m in the first half of the year.
“We remain focused on our medium term goal of reducing our dependence on B2C activities and continuing to grow our higher margin B2B business, in particular through our managed service offerings,” said Probability CEO Charles Cohen.
“A big part of this will be entry into the regulated gambling market in the United States which we hope to achieve in 2014. The company is in an advanced stage of negotiation with two potential customers to supply our platform, content and management services for regulated activity in their respective US states.”
Cohen said Probability’s Italian business is making progress and expects to launch its first white-label services to launch early in 2014 following the certification of its platform by the country’s regulator.
The firm has made considerable changes to its B2C marketing strategy during the past six months, after what Cohen described as a “disappointing performance” in H1.
This includes the appointment of former William Hill head of mobile Michael Byrne in October, who has assumed responsibility for all B2C activities, and a renewed focus on “proven direct-response digital marketing” and its core casino brand LadyLuck’s.
In November cost-per-acquisition of a cash player to its core B2C brands was a third of the equivalent cost in July, the company said.
“During the summer, once it became clear that the B2C commercial strategy was not delivering we took decisive action in recalibrating this side of the business, bringing in new talent and fresh thinking and focusing back onto proven and controllable methodologies for acquisition,” said Cohen.
“Whilst recovery is still incomplete we have begun to see growth again and our unrelenting focus is to build on this renewed momentum.
“The growth of demand for our unique local games in the App Store has been fantastic. Approval times for new games by the regulator are now coming down, meaning we can speed up our release schedule for this important market in the coming months after the frustrations of 2013 which held us all back.”
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