GAN raises £7.5m to target US internet sports betting

US Supreme Court announced decision to lift the Federal Ban on sports betting last week

Internet gaming software firm GAN has raised £7.5 million (€8.6 million) to target opportunities in the US arising from the decision to lift the Federal Ban on sports betting announced last week.

On Monday, the developer and supplier of enterprise-level B2B internet gaming software, services and online gaming content in the US, said it had conditionally raised £7.5 million through an over-subscribed subscription of 15 million ordinary shares of £0.01 per share, at an issue price of £0.50 a share. The new shares will represent 17.6 per cent of the enlarged issued share capital of the company. GAN had a market capitalisation of some €55 million on the Irish Stock Exchange ahead of the transaction.

GAN said it would use the proceeds of the transaction for a number of investments, including “substantially” increasing its software engineering resources to serve existing major US clients’ services such as the WinStar.com Overseas Internet Casino. It also hopes to launch new US clients and new services in the US, in anticipation of internet sports betting, following the US Supreme Court’s decision to lift the Federal Ban on sports betting delivered on May 14th, 2018.

In addition, proceeds will be used to repay a £2 million convertible unsecured loan note in full, “in order to strengthen the company’s balance sheet”. The company also expects to increase software engineering resources at its office in Sofia, Bulgaria, where GAN has operated an engineering facility since 2016.

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Dermot Smurfit, chief executive, said: "This strategic capital raising exercise positions GAN to consolidate its US market position and capture substantial incremental revenue opportunities available resulting from both internet gaming and sports betting regulation in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other US States expected to regulate internet gambling in the near future."

Fiona Reddan

Fiona Reddan

Fiona Reddan is a writer specialising in personal finance and is the Home & Design Editor of The Irish Times