Two gambling industry firms have made it onto the list of the top 100 private companies in the UK. The Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100 2011 saw GameAccount Network (GAN) and bet365 ranked in the top 100 with payments providers Ukash and Skrill also included. GAN broke the top 30 as it made its 29th place in a year when they claim to have processed $1billion in bets.
GameAccount Network’s managing director Dermot Smurfit, commented, “Due to the hard work invested by all employees of GameAccount Network, our monumental software engineering skills, burgeoning games portfolio, wide-reaching Platform deals and consequential fast-growing sales, we are proud to have been nominated and win a place in this year’s top 100 fastest-growing UK technology companies.”
The only other gaming industry only company in the top 100 was the Stoke-based bookmaker bet365. The group, which was founded way back in 1974 as a high-street bookie, has been purely online since 2005 and now operate in 17 languages. They achieved the distinction of having the highest turnover (£501m) in the entire top 100 and continue to prove that the private model is the best in the online gaming industry. They are able to operate in the world’s most lucrative markets, such as those in Asia, and aren’t stuck to markets in certain territories like public gambling industry companies are. These two pale in insignificance when you compare the two to the exploits of PKR who came top of the Tech Track 100 this time last year.
Payment provider Ukash has shown how lucrative a time they are having by ranking 23rd on the list as their alternative to using bank cards. Gamblers in South America have benefited from Ukash vouchers and the system means that players never need hand over credit card details to sites. The company formerly known as Moneybookers, Skrill, find themselves in 43rd place and is another method of sending payments that is used buy a number of sites in the gambling industry. It made the decision to postpone their IPO earlier this year thanks to unfavorable market conditions.
