Playtech Looks to Non-Traditional Licensees

Having created an online poker network targeting Italy, Playtech Ltd., the software developer, has secured its first Italian licensee, Snai SpA, the country's second-largest online betting operator.

Currently, Snai's poker offering is available in downloadable, play-for-free form, though Playtech expects to roll out a real-money version by the fourth quarter of this year.

Tournament-play format, one analyst explained to IGamingNews, constitutes players placing a fixed sum -- say, $10 -- in a pot. The majority of the winnings are paid to the top three participating players, with the operator taking a small percentage.

The analyst, who wished not to be named, said revenue contributions from tournament play will be smaller than those taken from ring games, but that the deal represented a change of tack for Playtech.

"At some stage, they (Playtech) can't keep adding the new e-gaming licensees, because there're just not enough companies out there, and they've signed up quite a lot of them already," the analyst said, adding:

"So, they're going to start exploring new avenues of growth, and new avenues of growth are going to come from non-traditional gaming companies looking to leverage their I.P., their Internet traffic -- leverage more revenue out of that -- and one way of doing that is via online gaming."

Management with Playtech could not be reached for comment by press time Wednesday.

GameAccount Global Ltd. has also done a deal with Snai for skill games. Read our interview with Dermot Smurfit, the company's chief operating officer, here.