Net Entertainment seeks Canadian and US Licenses

Online casino gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry around the world, but it’s often difficult for suppliers to break into the U.S. market because of laws against online gambling in many areas. This isn’t stopping Per Eriksson, CEO of Net Entertainment or NetEnt, from keeping his eyes on the U.S. market which he hopes to penetrate by 2015.

Take a look at NetEnt financial results and how they’ve grown over the past few years to better understand why they feel they can and should penetrate the U.S. market.

NetEnt provides top online slot games to Online Casinos like Bet365 and has seen a whopping 34% growth year by year to an overall £8.5m and then to £33.9m just recently. This growth has been spurred by new agreements with gaming operators such as Full Tilt and William Hills, and of course they have signed many other licensing agreements with smaller companies as well.

Because online gaming can be such a tough market to penetrate in the U.S., why would NetEnt choose to push into these markets now? One reason is that many regulations in the U.S. are changing particularly in gaming-friendly states such as New Jersey, and Eriksson believes that these changes will spread rapidly across the country. Gaming suppliers are looking to secure licenses with the U.S. and with Canada, and NetEnt is looking to expand their operations across the whole of North America in 2015. Eriksson commented on the move recently, noting that the time is right to intensify their efforts to penetrate the U.S. market.

Of course NetEnt isn’t the only gaming supplier looking to secure licenses in the U.S., as QuickSpin has also recently announced their plan to seek licenses in the U.S. This makes NetEnt the second Swedish gaming supplier within the same month to announce their plans to try and penetrate this territory. QuickSpin has also signed agreements with others in the industry including Bwin, to supply mobile platforms and those for the desktop in the gaming industry. After their announcement QuickSpin saw their shares rise about 4% in early trading.

There is no telling where the U.S. online gaming industry is headed but with legislation easing up on restrictions for online gaming, it’s no wonder NetEnt is looking for their share of this very lucrative market.