Online gaming technology provider GAN (formerly GameAccount Network) has inked a major new US client for its free-play social casino offering.
On Friday, GAN announced that it had inked a deal with Midwestern casino operator Rock Gaming LLC to provide its Simulated Gaming free-play online casino product to Rock’s three brick-and-mortar properties in Ohio.
The deal will see Horseshoe Casino Cleveland, Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati and ThistleDown Racino launch GAN’s Simulated Gaming product on both web and mobile sometime in the first half of 2016, pending regulatory approval.
The online offering will be linked with Rock Gaming Ohio’s loyalty program, allowing members to earn online rewards that can be redeemed for real-world goods and services at the three Ohio gaming venues.
GAN CEO Dermot Smurfit called the deal “another major step” in his company’s regional expansion strategy that will give GAN access to “a significant part of the Midwestern US.”
Rock Gaming CEO Matthew Cullen logrolled right back, saying “a careful review of the fast-growing online social casino market” had identified GAN as the right fit for Rock’s Ohio properties and customers.
The Ohio deal marks the latest social casino scalp in GAN’s relentless pursuit of US brick-and-mortar partners. Last year saw GAN ink deals with market-leading properties in Atlantic City and Maryland, while also adding casinos in Nevada, California and the seven states in which the Isle of Capri chain has a presence.
GAN has credited its Simulated Gaming product with helping the company to weather the slower than expected rollout of real-money online gambling across the United States. The AIM-listed GAN reported a £2.6m loss in the first half of 2015, despite a six-fold rise in its social gaming revenue.
