It was widely anticipated that the slots sector would be the harshest hit of a tough new taxation era in the UK market. However, the latest results from Gaming Realms indicate growth for the supplier and the resilience of the wider iGaming sector.
Gaming Realms has diversified its business portfolio in recent years, with around 23% of its business now being in the UK market.
That being said, the UK performance of the group reached record levels, increasing by 3%, which will raise eyebrows as it comes amidst a backdrop of Remote Gaming Duty spiking from 21% to 40%.
Gaming Realms is no stranger to thriving in the challenging regulatory environment as it also weathered challenges inflicted upon the retail sector by slot stake changes in the UK.
However, the latest results go against all odds as the RGD tax rises were widely anticipated to cripple UK slots.
It underpins that even in the midst of a severely challenging regulatory environment, a strong product can still succeed in the UK market.
ne of the key innovations of Gaming Realms that stood outt as a driver for growth was the firm’s Slingo product, and Gaming Realms added a stake change feature to the title.
There was also a myriad of new titles launched in the Slingo range that enabled the vertical to be a key driver for success not just in the UK market but in other countries too.
Furthermore, whilst engaging with a wide portfolio of partners in the UK market, Gaming Realms is partnered with both bet365 and Sky Betting and Vegas, which is interesting given the consolidation we have seen in the UK off the back of the taxation changes.
For the top-tier operators in the UK, the tax hikes have inevitably provided challenges, but they have also led to an avenue for increased market share as the framework tightens and squeezes the margins for smaller and mid-tier operators.
The ability to weather a storm in the UK market may well come back into focus for UK stakeholders as the premiership of Andy Burnham is seemingly supportive of an anti-gambling sentiment.
This is largely focused on the retail sector at the moment, with an impending increasing of taxation rates on the machine gaming duty. However, even off the back of such high tax rates, we await the Autumn budget for any further framework changes.
For Gaming Realms, the other two markets that fuelled success were the Italian market and North America. Italian growth was reported at 29% for the supplier, in a market where the GGR tax rate remains at around 25%, a place the UK market used to be at.
