Who said that gaming was in a decline?Â
Well, no one — but in any case, gaming software good guys Playtech have just announced record revenues, over the first half of 2014.
According to a company report, total revenue brought in by the the Isle of Man-headquartered developer up to June 30, 2023 stood at 212.4m, in the first half, up from 176.8 million for the corresponding period in 2013.
Playtech report that the story is the same with their adjusted earnings, which have jumped by 28.2%, and adjusted profit, which has grown a whopping 44.8% over the same period (to 66.7m in the latter case).
Playtech are responsible for some of the wackiest slots out there, including Monty Python’s Spamalot, and their range of Marvel games like Thor and X-Men.
So it seems they are on the right track, whatever is happening in other parts of the sector.
For instance, Lotteriinspektionen, Sweden’s gambling & lottery authority has announced a 3% y-o-y decline in revenues at the midpoint in 2014, while over in Atlantic City, New Jersey, there has been a veritable procession of vast casino complexes closing, most notably the Revel Casino.
That said, it’s comparing apples and oranges a bit — the previous examples are whereas Playtech have the advantage of being a hi tech firm which can presumably respond more flexibly to market changes and is not, in and of itself, hampered by government regulation.
They’ve also kept their noses clean thus far — remember Betsoft had their Alderney license rescinded not long ago, and earlier there was also the debacle of the Sheriff/Blue Gem Gaming criminal investigation.
In any event it will be interesting to see how this, well, plays out and if other developers like NetEnt will experience similar halcyon days in the coming months.
Playtech also has offices all over the place — to be precise, the United Kingdom, Israel, Estonia, Ukraine, Philippines, Sweden, Germany, Gibraltar, Latvia and Cyprus.
It is also heavily involved in sports betting, lotteries, online scratchcards and online Poker room solutions, and not just online casino games, so diversification must play a part in their success.
Whilst it’s not all blue skies — time is ticking on the Marvel-themed slots after Disney’s takeover meant they will cease to license the slots in the interests of their squeaky-clean image, this is all very encouraging, and it will be interesting to see how they continue to grow, and if they’ll come out from behind the shadows of NetEnt and Microgaming in particular.