Mobile gambling firm reports results and a new deal

The UK mobile gambling technology firm Probability plc has announced solid third quarter and full year result, together with a new games deal with Australian developer NextGen.

The unaudited financial results cover the period January 1st 2009 to March 31st 2009.

Unaudited NGR for the quarter was GBP 1 126 543, whilst the total for 2008/9 was GBP 5 056 236, an increase of 60 percent compared with 2007/8.

The company registered 49 506 new players during the quarter, taking the total number of new customers for the year to 248 667.

Operational highlights included the launch of the “Grease” movie themed slot following an agreement with Paramount Digital; a collaborative deal with Mfuse improving the distribution of Probability games to a wider audience and an agreement to license “The X-Factor” movie brand and other popular concepts from FreemantleMedia.

Commenting on the quarter, Probability CEO Charles Cohen said: “Since the start of March 2009 we have experienced a strong upswing in customer activity, both in terms of utilisation and new customer registrations, spearheaded by the launch of “Grease” slots across all networks and to our player base of over 400 000 customers. This game was an immediate hit, taking two million individual bets by new and existing players in the first month alone.

“This momentum has continued into April. Average daily net gaming revenue in the first half of April 2009 was approximately 22 percent higher than the equivalent daily average across the whole of January 2009. New customer acquisitions were 12 percent higher on the same basis.

“Most encouragingly, the average total deposits per cash player per day was 83 percent higher in the first half of April 2009 than the equivalent figure for the whole of January 2009.

“In 2009, we had anticipated that demand in January and February would be weak compared to the previous quarter, as was the case in previous years, but compounded by the recession. The return to growth and profitability in March 2009 shows that we were right to maintain our disciplined approach to marketing and to continue to invest in new products to attract and retain customers in this tough environment. ”

Probability took the opportunity to announce its latest deal – a joint development and licensing agreement with NextGen Gaming, one of the world’s leading designers of five-reel video slots games.

Cohen said: “NextGen Gaming is a leading independent supplier of innovative slot games to the gambling industry. NextGen’s clients include several of the largest providers of on-line gambling services including 888.com, PartyGaming and Cryptologic. Its slots games feature widely on over a hundred on-line casino and bingo sites.”

Under the agreement between Probability and NextGen, the companies will collaborate on designing and implementing mobile versions of NextGen’s most popular slots games for distribution by Probability. Game themes and mathematics will be provided by NextGen.

Probability will distribute the mobile versions of NextGen slot games to its 400 000 plus UK players on LadyLuck’s as well as making the games available through it’s growing network of B2B partners, including the clients of Mfuse Ltd, with whom Probability enoys a distribution agreement.

The first slots game to be produced under the agreement, launched this week, is “Rameses Riches” – the first five-reel slots game to be launched by Probability, and uses the company’s new slots engine developed during 2008/9.

Cohen says the good start to the year is encouraging.

“Given the economic conditions for consumer services (including gambling),this outcome represents good progress for the company and we remain confident of our ability to achieve current market expectations for revenues in the new financial year and beyond,” he said.

“Our portfolio of games is planned to double this coming year and we also remain on track to expand our direct marketing to consumers outside the UK during 2009/10 from our operational base in Alderney.”