News

Global Cash Access announces online gaming alliance

August 8, 2012

Las Vegas-based IAD and transaction processor Global Cash Access Holdings Inc. is betting it can make a bundle on Internet gambling. On Tuesday, the company announced it has formed a strategic partnership with New York-based Live Gamer, a wallet, analytics and media provider to the social gaming world.

GCA announced the deal during the company's Q2 earnings call late Tuesday afternoon. The exact nature of the business alliance was not outlined, said an article in Vegas Inc. However, the publication said, it appears that GCA is positioning itself to extend its bricks-and-mortar cash supply services to Internet poker websites when that form of gaming becomes available.

"We don't know where Internet wagering is going to go," Global Cash Access CEO Scott Betts told securities analysts in a conference call. "And we don't know who the players will be long-term. Will players in the social gaming space move into the wagering space? It could happen. If it does, [Live Gamer has] a tremendous customer portfolio."

Currently Live Gamer has business relationships in place with major online names such as Facebook and Electronic Arts, the Vegas Inc. report said. GCA hopes to leverage those relationships to build on its expertise in regulatory compliance, cash access products and connectivity.

With the Live Gamer alliance, Global Cash Access will gain key technology for its I-poker processing platform, as well as technology relevant to customers' social gaming initiatives, said David Bain, an analyst with Sterne Agee, in an article by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. 

"We believe the I-poker processing market is a $100 million-plus ... opportunity, with Global Cash Access having a significant first-mover advantage, given both licensing and casino brick-and-mortar relationships," Bain said in a research report.

On Wednesday, the Nevada Gaming Control Board granted its approval for GCA to act as a service provider to the online poker industry, said the Review-Journal article. The Nevada Gaming Commission will consider the company's license application on Aug. 23.

Also in the Q2 earnings call, GCA reported earnings of $6.8 million for the quarter (11 cents per share), compared with $1 million (2 cents a share) during the same period in 2011. Revenue was $147.4 million, compared with $135 million in Q2 of 2011.

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