Probability sees spike in iPhone income
Mobile specialist sees revenues boosted by iPhone traffic and announces move from Alderney to Gibraltar - the first gaming company to receive a licence in more than two years.
AIM-listed mobile gambling specialist Probability has seen a sharp rise in income from its iPhone products and has announced it will move operations from Alderney to Gibraltar “as soon as is practicable” after being awarded the first remote gambling licence there for more than two years.
In a trading update released this morning it described its newly launched Touch Casino product for the iPhone as the “most significant single contributor of new revenues”. In September iPhone customers represented 12.3% of all cash deposits, less than three months after the company launched the service in July this year.
Probability has also released a free to download Android App this month. It said it believed Android devices present a marketing opportunity which could be “greater than the iPhone” in the next few years. According to a recent report from mobile industry analyst iSuppli, Android will have a 19% market share of mobile devices by 2012 compared with a forecast of 16% for Apple. It called the uptake in the first few days of launch “very encouraging”.
Charles Cohen, chief executive of Probability, said: “We are seeing the benefits now of our strategic initiative started some 18 months ago now to create a long term platform for Probability.
“There remains a huge amount of opportunity for us as consumers shift their behaviour towards mobile devices such as the iPhone, Android and tablets such as the iPad and Blackberry’s recently announced PlayBook. You are going to see Probability making a strong play into all of these devices and markets.”
Total cash deposited by players into gaming accounts in September was 27.1% higher than April 2010, the company said. Total wagers placed in September were 54.9% higher than in April 2010, while the total number of players in September was 11.2% higher than in April this year.
Following the conclusion of its technology investment programme earlier this year, the company said it was also now operating “from a lower fixed cost base” with further cost efficiencies expected now that Probability has been awarded a remote gambling licence by the government of Gibraltar, the first new licence since 2008.
Cohen called the Gibraltar licence “the icing on the cake” not just because it places the company among a “prestigious group of egaming businesses, but because it provides us with access to a skilled workforce and more efficient, competitive tax and cost regime”.
There are currently 19 other companies with a remote gambling licence in Gibraltar including Ladbrokes, 888.com, PartyGaming and William Hill. The company said the move would bring both commercial benefits and “significant on-going cost savings and improved operational margins” as the business expands.
Glenn Elliott, the company’s chief operating officer has relocated to Gibraltar and taken up the role of managing director of Probability (Gibraltar) Limited. Elliott has resigned his position on the board of Probability with immediate effect in order to take up this appointment.
John Anderson has also been appointed as non-executive chairman of Probability (Gibraltar) Limited. Anderson has been non-executive director of 888 Holdings since January 2007and was its chief executive for seven years. He is also chairman of the Interactive Gaming Council and a board member of the international player protection and standards organisation eCOGRA and a director of online bookmaker 10Bet as well as being chairman of Burford holdings, a privately held property investment company.