Gambling software developer Playtech has expanded its presence in Michigan, launching a new iGaming mobile app through its partnership with platform provider Parx Interactive and the Gun Lake Band of Pottawatomi Indians.
Playtech said the app, Play Gun Lake, will be powered by its Information Management Solution (IMS) platform and Player Account Management (PAM) software, and will feature proprietary iGaming content. The app is designed to support the tribe’s Gun Lake Casino, located in Wayland, Michigan.
The announcement comes days after the tribe and Parx received regulatory approval from the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) to launch an online casino in Michigan on April 23. The MGCB said the tribe will receive authorization to offer online sports betting at a later date, after all regulatory requirements have been met.
Eleven other tribes or casinos and their respective platform providers currently run both forms of gaming in Michigan while one tribe and its provider—the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, which has partnered with PointsBet—offers online sports betting only.
The product launch signals the official start of Playtech’s expansion into the US market through its partnership with Parx’s owner, Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment, which was announced in February.
Greenwood owns and operates the Parx Casino in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, the state’s largest. It also provides online sports betting in Pennsylvania, online casino and retail sports betting in New Jersey, and retail sports betting in Michigan.
The February deal calls for Playtech’s IMS platform to power Parx’s online operations in Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It also calls for Parx Casino to migrate from its current GAN system to IMS, making it the first in the US to run the system.
Playtech said it plans to roll out additional products in the four aforementioned states in the near future. Playtech also has partnerships with Bet365 and BetMGM, a joint venture between MGM and Entain, in New Jersey.
Playtech’s product launch follows an announcement in late March that it had secured a long-term lease for its first Live Casino studio in the US, in Southfield, Michigan. The company said the studio will include bespoke areas for operator dedicated tables and networked tables, with room to grow and expand to support the company’s future expansion in the US.
Also in March, Playtech clinched a non-exclusive sports wagering alliance with Novomatic Americas, a subsidiary of Austria-based NOVOMATIC AG Group. The alliance builds on Playtech’s long-term partnership with the parent company, which jointly operates more than 10,000 kiosks worldwide.
Under the arrangement, Playtech’s sports wagering kiosk (SSBT) systems will be delivered through Novomatic’s sports wagering book in the US, ActionBook, which currently supplies DraftKings and Penn National, among others. It also called for both parties to jointly market Playtech’s Mobile Sportsbook and PAM software to prospective customers. ActionBook is active in 11 states and 49 different locations in the US.
“I believe that, by the end of 2021, we will be in additional [US] states with a mix of iGaming, sports and IMS,” CEO Mor Weizer said during a March 11 earnings call to discuss FY2020. “While some conversations take some time given their strategic nature, we are working very hard to push in the US market.”
