- Gaming technology company GAN has announced that their GAN Sports platform has been launched at Island View Casino in Gulfport, Mississippi.
- GAN acquired Coolbet in 2021 and used their technology as a foundation for the GAN Sports platform.
- Island View Casino is located on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and offers more than 126,000 square feet of gaming options.
The less said about Mississippi’s gaming industry the better. It is somewhat amazing that a state controlled by fundamentalist religious lunatics has gaming at all. They even have sports betting–at least the retail component. The aforementioned religious lunatics have put the kibosh on any statewide mobile sports betting access to date. Never mind the fact that most of the state is a poverty and crime infested hellhole and could benefit from a thriving mobile gaming industry. Or any kind of thriving industry. Really, any type of statewide benefit from gaming would be a change from the status quo. The casinos on the Mississippi Gulf Coast are doing fairly well, but the industry in the Tunica area is in a complete freefall. There might not be a state in the US that has squandered the opportunities presented by sports betting to the extent that Mississippi has bungled what should be a driver of tax revenue, employment and economic development.
I’ve spent some time along the Gulf Coast in Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana and it’s a nice area if you’re into the beach thing. The Florida Gulf Coast in particular might be the most underrated stretch of beaches in the world. By now you’ve no doubt guessed that the casinos in the Biloxi/Gulfport area owe their success entirely to their proximity to the coastline. It’s not an overstatement to suggest that they’ve flourished *despite* being in Mississippi, not because of it. The Island View Casino Resort opened in 2006 and is currently the only casino in the Gulfport area. It’s nominally the successor to the Copa Casino which along with the Grand Casino Gulfport were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The Island View has done well for itself and has been expanding since they opened–to the point that they’ve now got 126,000 feet of gaming options along with 970 hotel rooms.
They’ve also got a retail sportsbook as of Tuesday, September 27. The retail and ‘in house online’ technology (you can bet online in the only place in the state where you don’t *need* to bet online–while you’re physically at the casino) and managed trading services are supplied by GAN. It’s the first deployment of their GAN Sports platform in the US. GAN is also slated to provide additional services in the future including marketing and client retention. The sports betting platform has roots in the technology that GAN acquired via the 2021 acquisition of COOLBET.
Here’s the official announcement of the launch from a GAN provided press release:
GAN Limited (the “Company” or “GAN”) (NASDAQ: GAN), a leading North American B2B technology provider of enterprise technology solutions for enabling real money internet gambling, today announced the successful launch of GAN Sports for Island View Casino in Gulfport, Mississippi on September 27, 2022.
This announcement demonstrates the extensive capabilities of GAN Sports’ in-house online and retail sports betting technology. It is the first of what the Company expects to be a robust cadence of GAN Sports launches throughout 2023. GAN Sports is a modern sportsbook technology platform based on the multiple award-winning COOLBET technology that has been adapted for the U.S. B2B market.
Yesterday’s launch of retail sports betting across twenty Internet-connected kiosks will shortly be complemented by the ‘Bet the V’ mobile sportsbook. This mobile solution is enabled by GAN’s market-leading GameSTACK™ Player Account Management (PAM) system for omnichannel sports betting via retail kiosks or personal mobile devices while on-property. GAN will also provide marketing and customer services, delivering a complete end-to-end solution to maximize the client experience. In addition, statewide mobile sports betting and iGaming are incremental exclusive opportunities for GAN in partnership with Island View Casino Resort in Mississippi if supporting legislation emerges in the future.
I wouldn’t hold your breath on the ‘statewide mobile sports betting and iGaming’, guys. Here’s a quote from GAN President and CEO Durmot S. Smurfit:
“Following our 2021 acquisition of Coolbet we are thrilled to announce the premiere of GAN Sports, perhaps the most innovative sports experience available on-property anywhere in the U.S. today. We are greatly encouraged by the sales momentum for our omnichannel sports betting technology and managed trading services solution and anticipate a high-margin financial contribution as the economics of B2B sports technology provision are highly favorable and incremental to our existing B2B offerings. The entire GAN team is excited to partner with Island View Casino Resort and deliver our complete enterprise solution of on-property GAN Sports, PAM and the omnichannel iBridge Framework™ for linking loyalty programs. We look forward to driving the future growth of their existing sportsbook business and increasing the proportion of our B2B revenues derived from U.S. sports betting as we scale this new B2B revenue stream.”
And a quote from Island View Casino Resort VP of Operations Steve Hendricks:
“We selected GAN for the quality of their sports betting technology and managed trading services following our evaluation of all major potential suppliers. GAN has now brought to our patrons an exciting new on-property sports betting experience enabled by their modern technology and market-leading user interface design greatly encouraging our patrons to construct high-margin, multi-stage parlay bets as well as traditional single-game wagers.”
GAN has gained significant traction in North American mobile gaming and you can expect some more retail sports betting launches within the next year or so. I really like what GAN does, so good to see them finding a niche in a US sports betting industry that is largely set up to protect incumbents and keep innovative newcomers–like GAN–out of the game.
