U.S. expansion for Nektan?

Gibraltar-based software developer Nektan, which specialises in touch screen gambling games and online and mobile slots that include a skill element, is hewing diligently to its business plan to expand in the United States, a course that it publicly mapped out last year.

Insider reports and Twitter posts indicated this week that the company, which is a subsidiary of Disruptive Technology, is expanding its San Francisco presence in the United States with a new US head office in Las Vegas…and Nektan co-founder and senior exec Richard Sagman is to head the operation there.

Sagman has a respected reputation in the industry, having served in senior management positions with GTech and Endemol Games before his involvement on the very successful Nektan project.

The company operates in the highly regulated European online and mobile gambling industry and has plans for an expansion of its US presence and a London IPO.

It develops innovative and unique touch gaming products for commercial operators and government lotteries, enabling clients to rapidly expand revenues from significant business growth areas that include mobile social gambling.

Last year William Hill plc launched Nektans innovative “Show Me the Bunny” game, a cross-platform Web and HTML5 mobile gambling hit.

In mid-2013 Nektan acquired UK mobile app developer Mfuse and commercial director David Da Silva publicly mapped out the company’s strategy for the US and possibly Asia.

He said that Nektan would consider the acquisition of other companies that could contribute to its expansion, and that an IPO was on the drawing board following an earlier GBP 5 million financing round.

“A combination of strategic acquisitions, joint ventures and organic growth will broaden Nektan’s portfolio of programs and services. The company aims to develop its distribution network into regulated gaming markets worldwide, beginning with the US and Asia, Da Silva said, declining to elaborate on Asian plans.

Nektan’s products include its flagship Sklots offering, which combines slot machine and skill gaming. The company also provides casino games such as blackjack.

Its customers include US and European state lotteries through a commercial partnership with US lottery technology provider Scientific Games.