GVC will be sportsbook market leader, CEO says
Kenny Alexander says the company is focused on developing the market leading sportsbook product over next twelve months
GVC Holdings chief executive Kenny Alexander (pictured) believes the company’s focus on product development will give its brands the best sportsbook on the market within the next 12 months with the firm plotting a number of new launches in 2015.
Speaking to eGaming Review following the release of the Group’s interim results and Q3 trading update, Alexander said the company was planning to release a number of new products over the next year which would see its Sportingbet and Betboo brands outpace its rivals.
“We are continually investing to move this product forward,” Alexander said. “It’s one of the market leaders “ it’s not market leading yet but our aim is to make it market leading over the next 12 months,” he added.
The results presentation revealed the company had invested around 2m in product development this year alone, with the size of its in-house development team having increased from 17 to 50.
The company teased a “cutting-edge” new sportsbook product for 2015 while it said it will also ramp-up the number of streamed events and increase the volume of in-play tennis, football and basketball matches.
GVC also hopes to improve on its 22% mobile sportsbook penetration rate with Alexander saying mobile was a “very high priority” and a batch of new mobile products are scheduled for release in early 2015
Alexander said the firm has been able to focus extra resources on product development after completing the restructuring of Sportingbet ahead of schedule late last year.
“Last year was all about restructuring to get the business on a sound financial footing,” Alexander said. “In 2014 we have so far been able to invest more in mobile, more in sportsbook product and prepare for the World Cup.”
The trading update saw the company record a 20% growth in NGR and marked the Group’s fifth consecutive quarter of growth.
“That’s despite some seasonality and quarters where some should be quieter than others,” Alexander said, adding that the company had continued to recruit new players after the World Cup.
New funded player accounts were 51,407, up 25% on the 41,178 recorded in the same period last year while deposits per day were up 31% to 1.36m.