GameAccount chief to relocate to Las Vegas

According to reports in the Irish press this week GameAccount Network chief Dermot Smurfit is about to relocate to Las Vegas in order to develop fresh business opportunities with land casino operators.

The company has already secured 7 deals for its online casino products, which are offered in free-play format but assist land operators to prepare for any US legalisation that may develop.

Smurfit claims that he is presently negotiating with what he describes as an “extraordinary range of US casino” operators.

The Irish Independent newspaper speculates that Smurfit is focused on moving GameAccount back into profit. The company lost GBP 2.6 million before tax last year, has seen its share price almost halved since its IPO two years ago, and is hoping to develop new business, the newspaper reports.

Smurfit has confirmed that he and his family are moving to Las Vegas later this month and will be there for a year.

“We have loads of potential customers in the pipeline… we’ve signed up seven US casinos. Three of them are live, the rest are going to be live before the end of the year,” Smurfit said.

Game Account Network has given its core product the generic name of “simulated gaming”, which involves selling virtual currency to players who then use it to gamble online on casino games purely for entertainment, not profit.

The company also offers a freemium mobile app which enables in-app purchases by users, and sophisticated remote gaming servers that slot machine providers can use to move their products into the online environment.

Smurfit is the company’s largest investor and is still buying shares. He says the decline in share price since the IPO was caused by some institutional investors selling out due to the “dramatic” slowdown in the pace of US regulation. Other investors include family members Michael and Tony Smurfit.

Dermot Smurfit says the company has invested GBP 40 million in developing its technology platform.