Sweden’s NetEnt online game developer is hoping to double its share of the global market to 30 percent despite changes to the global online gaming industry and a shaky online gambling industry in the U.S., officials recently said in a profile by Reuters.
The company has recently signed contracts with casino operators in the United States, Britain and Spain and is producing online games ranging from blackjack to roulette. Earnings rose more than 50 percent last year and the share price doubled to give a market value of around $2 billion, the Reuters report said.
“We still have big growth potential in Europe. We have approximately a 30 percent market share and that means 70 percent to take,” CEO Per Eriksson told Reuters. “Then, we have the U.S. waiting for us and that is something we are looking forward to.”
Eriksson said he believes increased mobile phone gaming, state lotteries and even revenues from digital games placed inside actual casinos will all help drive growth in the U.S.
New Jersey was one of the three U.S. states to legalize online gaming and NetEnt has signed on most major operators there. Pennsylvania may be next, he told the news service, creating what Eriksson hopes will be a domino effect across the east coast.
In Europe, however, rising taxes have cast some doubts on whether the company can sustain growth.
In France, for example, higher taxes saw NetEnt saw revenues there dry up overnight in 2009 as customers left. Gambling companies in Britain have also been hit by new taxes targeting their growing online business, the report said
Eriksson said he is bemused by the opposition to online gambling.
“I feel it’s a little bit like rock-n-roll in the 50s, when people said it will destroy everything,” he said. “But it’s here to stay.”
In another matter, NetEnt will launch its new Aloha! Cluster Pays slot game later this month,
The games cluster pays refers to symbol clusters that trigger a variety of bonus rounds and reward opportunities.
