GameAccount Global Ltd., a skill games provider in London, on Monday inked a licensing deal with Blue Square, one Dermot Smurfit, GameAccount's chief operating officer, expects will be among the company's largest by revenue and liquidity for the 2008 calendar year.
"We are confident Blue Square will be as happy over time with the incremental extra revenues they generate from their sportsbook customer as we will be with our share in those revenues," Mr. Smurfit told Interactive Gaming News in an e-mail Monday. "If our licensees aren't making 'interesting' money, then neither are we."
GameAccount, which specializes in niche areas like backgammon, poker dice and gin rummy, has lured Gala Coral of the United Kingdom and Stan James of Gibraltar into licensing deals this year.
For its part, Blue Square has been one of Rank Group's better performers, with revenue up 10 percent against the previous year period, according to Rank's last trading update in May.
Under the GameAccount deal, commercial details of which Mr. Smurfit would not disclose, Blue Square will launch a suite of GameAccount games.
GameAccount, meanwhile, targets major operators for a simple reason:
"We invite blue chip operators to join our network in order to avoid rake-back wars and other issues which can plague p2p networks," Mr. Smurfit said. "Smaller affiliate groups generally account for the rake-back problems experienced by their network operators and licensees."
Looking ahead, Mr. Smurfit observed that with deregulation, Spain and Italy are expected to become high-growth markets for its licensees.
The company provides its platform for over 40 Web sites operated by its eight major sports betting customers, which include William Hill, Paddy Power and Sportingbet Europe.
Mr. Smurfit said licensing deals with major Continental and Scandinavian operators are in the pipeline.
Chris Krafcik is the editor of IGamingNews. He lives in St. Louis, Mo.