Probability Is Looking At USA Alliances As Online Gambling Gathers Momentum
The UK based company Probability Plc, who is a developer and creator, of gambling games for mobile phones, is currently in the advanced stages of talks with potential USA partners, for breaking into the gambling market in America, as different states are currently relaxing their betting restrictions.
With the recent legalization of onling gaming in New Jersey, earlier this year, and following legislation that is similar, in Delaware, and Nevada, the previous year, there is anticipation that other states will be changing their laws in the future.
Chief Executive, of Probability Plc, Charles Cohen, said that within a year or two, about half the population in the USA, will live in a state or within close proximity, to a place where they are able to gamble using their desktop, laptop or mobile devices, in real time, for real money.
Delaware and New Jersey have approved online gambling, within the borders of their states, and Nevada allows interstate gambling online.
During 2006 the USA government banned online gambling. However, in 2011 the Justice Department clarified their position on the subject, which paved the way for states to be able to legalize some form of gambling online.
The online gaming market was valued at about €21.73 billion (£19 bn) during 2012, and it is forecast that it will grow over the next 3 years by approximately 30%, according to research done by H2 Gambling group.
Mr Cohen, said that there was a lot of interest from companies in the USA, but, he did not identify which companies were interested.
The European partners of Probabililty Plc are William Hill Plc and Paddy Power Plc. Probability are designers, distributors and operators of mobile betting games, and Mr. Cohen has confirmed that they have plans for entering into the Swedish, French, Spanish and Danish markets.He said that the company hopes to be able to get into one or two territories this year.
Within the USA, owners of Casinos such as Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International are close to creating their own online choices, in partnership with companies such as 888 Holdings, Party Digital Entertainment, and the PartyGaming owner Bwin.
888 Holdings were the first company to obtain a USA license for an online betting company (888 Casino Acquires License to Operate in the U.S., 888.com Expecting Big Returns From US Gaming), they could on their own be able to launch online gaming choices in the State of Nevada, by as early as May 2013.
A Boom in Mobile Gambling
It is expected that gambling on smartphones will increase for players, who are constantly on the move, and prefer to use their smartphones rather than desktops or laptops.
Facebook and Zynga Inc., are also looking to be able to tap into this lucarative market, through online gambling partnerships. Zynga launched their real money games this month in the UK. Facebook has said that they will allow players to be able to wager real money on their site in the UK.
Probability Plc, who registered publicly in 2006, has a market value of $34 million, and more than ¾’s of its revenue coming from smartphones, and half of the revenue from users on the Apple Inc's iPhones.
Mr. Cohen, however, only expects 30% of revenue from Apple, within a year or two, because it is expected that more people will buy phones that use the Google’s Android operating system.
Mr. Cohen felt that the desktop is becoming obsolete, as a platform for real money gambling. He continued that consumers were ‘voting with their feet’.
He stated that about 60% will account for the European online gambling market, within 3-5 year’s time.
H2 Gambling Capital, has valued the mobile gaming market globally, at about €3.4 billion ($4.3 bn) last year, which is about 15% of the total market for online gambling.
Mr. Cohen said that Probability might consider a partnership with a social gaming website, however, up to now there are no plans to do so.
He stated that, the company, did not want to enter the social gaming scene, because it was quite different from real money gaming. But they might look at this aspect through partnerships at some time in the future.
