- Playtech announced, “developments [in the US] are in their infancy and there remains much work to do to resolve regulatory, political and practical considerations.”
- CEO Mor Weize said, “a number of strategic partnerships are being pursued to prepare for the potential opportunities offered by this large, diverse market.”
While other gaming companies produce a stream of press releases about their plans for newly regulated US markets, iPoker owner Playtech has been virtually silent. That may change as CEO Mor Weizer told investment analysts that he hoped to have news in the “not too distant future.”
The comments came at an earnings call to discuss Playtech’s latest annual report. Journalists and investors quizzed the CEO hard on what plans Playtech had for the US, a subject virtually omitted from the annual report.
Non-Executive Chairman Roger Withers told investors in his annual statement that “signs from the US are encouraging,” but added that, “developments are in their infancy and there remains much work to do to resolve regulatory, political and practical considerations.”
In his own statement in the report, Mor Weizer used exactly the same words, “developments are in their infancy and there remains much work to do to resolve regulatory, political and practical considerations.”
In the nuanced world of investor communications, this level of verbal choreography is not unusual, but it often signifies that something is going on behind the scenes.
Mor went a stage further than his Chairman and added, “a number of strategic partnerships are being pursued to prepare for the potential opportunities offered by this large, diverse market.”
This was enough for questioners to try to elicit more at the conference call, but their efforts were met with optimistic blandness.
Playtech’s strategy makes a specific point of the importance of regulated markets; “… the global process of regulating the online gaming industry continues to advance. This trend, led by national and local governments, is a key driver of Playtech’s current and future success.”
Given this positioning there seems no doubt that Playtech will be making a move into the US regulated arena in the near future. It has previously tried to get a foothold, albeit on a small scale.
2010 saw it create a joint venture called SciPlay which was approved by the now defunct California Online Poker Association (COPA). The partnership with Scientific Games Corporation was dissolved in January last year with Playtech taking a loss of about $700k on the deal.
Playtech’s growing confidence after revenue increases of over 50% in the last year suggest that its next deal will be on a more ambitious scale. When state regulated online poker finally goes live in the US, iPoker is likely to be there.
