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Risk Factors - GAN
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The foregoing factors should not be construed as an exhaustive list and should be read in conjunction with other cautionary statements that are included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as the items set forth under “Item 1A. Risk Factors.” If one or more events related to these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may differ materially from what we anticipate. Moreover, we operate in an evolving environment and new risk factors emerge from time to time. It is not possible for our management to predict all risk factors, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause our actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement.
You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. All forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which it is made. We do not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless the securities laws require us to do so.
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SUMMARY OF THE MATERIAL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH OUR BUSINESS
The summary risk factors described above should be read together with the text of the full risk factors below described under “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and the other information set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes, as well as in other documents that we file with the SEC. If any such risks and uncertainties actually occur, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. The risks summarized above, or described in full below, are not the only risks that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us, or that we currently deem to be immaterial may also materially adversely affect our business, prospects, stock price, financial condition and results of operations.
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PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
GAN Limited is an exempted holding company organized in Bermuda and through its subsidiaries, consists of two lines of business. We are a business-to-business (“B2B”) supplier of enterprise Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) solutions for online casino gaming, commonly referred to as iGaming, and online sports betting applications. Beginning with our acquisition of Coolbet in January 2021, we are also a business-to-consumer (“B2C”) developer and operator of an online sports betting and casino platform, which offers individuals located in select markets in Northern Europe, Latin America and Canada access to a digital portal for engaging in sports betting, online casino games and poker.
In our B2B segment, we feature our technology platform, which we market as the GameSTACK™ internet gaming platform (“GameSTACK”). The B2B segment develops, markets and sells instances of GameSTACK, GAN Sports, and iSight Back Office technology that incorporates comprehensive player registration, account funding and back-office accounting and management tools that enable casino operators to efficiently, confidently and effectively extend their online presence. GAN Sports, our newest product offering following the acquisition of Coolbet, launched in September 2022 and aims to provide a best-in-class B2B sports betting product in the U.S. and Canada through self-service kiosks on-premises at land-based casinos as well as mobile versions. Our GameSTACK platform and related support services are geared towards casino operators, with an emphasis on land-based commercial and tribal casinos in the United States, although we have deployed our platform in other geographies, such as Italy, Australia, and Canada. We also market our platform to gaming partners, such as online sportsbooks and gaming content developers, who provide us with an indirect channel into casino operators. This segment is primarily focused on enabling the U.S. casino industry’s ongoing digital transformation, following the repeal of a federal ban on sports betting in May 2018. Our customers rely on our platform to run their online casinos and sportsbooks legally, profitably and with engaging content. GameSTACK and GAN Sports enables us to offer a turnkey technology solution for regulated real money internet gambling (“real money iGaming” or “RMiG”), online sports betting, as well as (“simulated gaming” or “SIM”).
In our B2C segment, we operate a B2C casino and sports betting platform doing business as “Coolbet” that is accessible for gambling through the website www.coolbet.com in markets across Northern Europe, Latin America and Canada with over 1.9 million registered customers as of December 31, 2024. Coolbet holds, or is operating under, gambling licenses in Estonia, Malta, Sweden, Canada, and Mexico. The majority of Coolbet’s website traffic comes from mobile customers and each region features customized interfaces with localized product offerings and local language support teams. In 2024, our B2C revenue was generated from online casino games, online sports betting and online peer-to-peer poker, which comprised 60.2%, 36.0% and 3.8% of total revenue, respectively. B2C revenue slightly decreased 2.3% from $86.3 million in 2023 to $84.3 million in 2024 primarily due to a decline in the number of active customers in our Latin American markets during the current period. In addition to providing complementary technology to our B2B segment, we believe our B2C segment provides diversification of revenue streams and growth opportunities in international markets.
Corporate History
We were an early pioneer of online gaming. We commenced operations in 2002 in the United Kingdom and first generated revenue in December 2002. Our initial product allowed end user residents of the United Kingdom to create an online account, deposit money into that account and to compete against each other online in competitions of skill. We offered online games of skill to residents of the United Kingdom under the operation of the United Kingdom’s applicable legislation, the Lotteries & Amusements Act 1976 (s.14), which permitted competitions of skill.
Beginning in 2004, we secured our first major customers in the United Kingdom and subsequently launched our first real money casino gambling games through a license procured from the United Kingdom Gambling Commission following the passage of the Gambling Act 2005, which permitted companies in the United Kingdom to develop software intended for enabling internet gambling. In 2008 we began securing our first major customers in Italy and deployed our technology platform in Rome, Italy and served internet gaming content to several major Italian operators of regulated internet sports betting and gaming.
In 2010, we released the first version of our GameSTACK enterprise software platform for our first platform customer to launch a new internet gambling business in Europe as a complement to existing retail bingo gaming business. Following the launch of an internet casino for a casino operator customer operating on the GameSTACK platform in the State of New Jersey in 2013, we were the first technology platform provider to accept and process a deposit online in the State of New Jersey and processed the first legal online bet on our proprietary blackjack game. Our casino operators have continued to rely on GameSTACK to launch their online casinos in new and existing U.S. states that adopted applicable legislation.
In May 2020, GAN Limited completed a reorganization and share exchange pursuant to which we acquired all of the outstanding ordinary shares of GAN plc and became the parent company of GAN plc. Subsequently, GAN plc changed its name to GAN (UK) Limited. Additionally, in May 2020, we completed our U.S. initial public offering through which we sold an aggregate of 7,337,000 ordinary shares at a price per share of $8.50 and received gross proceeds of $62.4 million.
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In November 2020, we entered into a share exchange agreement (the “Share Exchange Agreement”), pursuant to which we agreed to acquire all of the outstanding equity in Vincent Group p.l.c., a Malta public limited company doing business as “Coolbet” in exchange for cash and ordinary shares. In December 2020, we completed a secondary public offering, issuing 6,790,956 ordinary shares in exchange for net proceeds of $98.5 million after underwriting discounts and commissions, and other offering expenses. We used the proceeds from this offering to fund the cash portion of the purchase price payable to the former Coolbet shareholders. On January 1, 2021, we completed the acquisition of Coolbet for a total purchase price of $218.1 million, comprised of a cash payment of $111.1 million, the issuance of 5,260,516 ordinary shares (valued at $106.7 million) and the issuance of replacement equity awards (valued at $0.3 million).
In 2022, we began to expand both our B2B and B2C footprints into other countries in North America. In April 2022, we launched a B2B customer on our GameSTACK technology platform in the Ontario, Canada market and in January 2023 we launched our Coolbet B2C casino in the regulated Mexican market.
In September 2022 we launched GAN Sports, a modern sportsbook technology platform based on the award-winning Coolbet technology that has been adapted for the U.S. B2B market and have subsequently launched other jurisdictions such as Massachusetts and Nevada in 2023.
Merger Agreement
On November 7, 2023, the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with SEGA SAMMY CREATION INC., a Japanese corporation (“SEGA SAMMY CREATION”), and Arc Bermuda Limited, a Bermuda exempted company limited by shares and a wholly-owned subsidiary of SEGA SAMMY CREATION (“Merger Sub”), pursuant to which, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions set forth therein, Merger Sub will be merged with and into the Company, with the Company surviving the merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of SEGA SAMMY CREATION (the “Merger”). SEGA SAMMY CREATION and Merger Sub are affiliates of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS, INC.
Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, and upon the terms and subject to the conditions thereof, at the effective time of the Merger, and as a result of the Merger (and without any action on the part of SEGA SAMMY CREATION, Merger Sub, the Company or any holder thereof):
Consummation of the Merger is not subject to a financing condition, but is subject to customary closing conditions, including (a) approval by the Company’s shareholders of the Merger Agreement, the Merger and the Statutory Merger Agreement, (b) receipt of applicable antitrust and CFIUS approvals or the expiration of applicable waiting periods, (c) absence of any order or injunction prohibiting the consummation of the Merger and (d) the accuracy of the Company’s representations and warranties contained in the Merger Agreement (subject to certain customary qualifications) and compliance by the Company with its agreements and covenants contained in the Merger Agreement. The closing of the Merger is also predicated upon receipt of approval of the Merger and change in control of the Company by all relevant gaming authorities. The Company anticipates that this will take some time, and that the closing of the Merger may not occur until the second quarter of 2025.
On February 13, 2024, the Company held a special general meeting of the shareholders of the Company to consider and vote upon the Merger Agreement, at which the shareholders approved the Merger Agreement.
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iGaming and Online Sportsbook Industry and Background
On May 14, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (“PASPA”), which since 1992 had prevented U.S. states, aside from Nevada and Delaware from engaging in the regulation and taxation of sports betting activities at the intrastate level. The ruling paved the way for U.S. states to elect individually whether to allow for regulated sports betting and, by extension, real money iGaming within their borders. Prior to the Supreme Court of the United States overturning PASPA, U.S. casino operators were largely limited to retail slot and table gaming operations and, in the online channel, to simulated gaming operations offering no prospect for real money winnings.
On June 22, 2021, the Parliament of Canada passed Bill C-218 - the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act, which removed the Canadian federal ban on domestic sportsbook betting in Canada, opening its provinces to allow single-game sports betting, and in April 2022 Ontario became the first province in Canada to regulate online gambling.
As of December 31, 2024, 38 U.S. states have approved legalized sports betting, along with Washington D.C., and real money iGaming is also presently legal in eight states. Each state or jurisdiction has unique regulatory and licensure requirements, and our ability to rapidly customize deployments and submit expeditiously for individual state gaming licensure has been a vital contributor to our success in the U.S. market. We enable our customers to deploy iGaming and online sportsbook offerings to their end users quickly, capturing valuable early-mover advantages in their relevant markets, such as the January 2021 launch in Michigan and the April 2022 launch in Ontario, Canada. We are presently licensed or approved to operate our RMiG platform in more than a dozen U.S. states, as well as Ontario, Canada and plan to continue to evaluate new opportunities to provide services in additional U.S. states in 2024 and beyond.
Online sports betting deployment models can vary widely due to state-specific regulatory and licensing mandates. However, licensed casino operators with land-based retail facilities tend to partner with online sportsbook operators in order to accelerate online customer acquisition. These operators generally rely on a technology platform, such as GameSTACK, for player onboarding, player account management, payment processing and various back-office tools designed to maintain regulatory compliance and real-time reporting. Additionally, our technology for online sportsbooks incorporates a sports betting engine for pricing, trade execution and risk management.
In order to monetize online and offline players in a coherent manner, casino operators pursue omnichannel marketing strategies that require deep integration of hardware and software elements, including computing infrastructure, customer relationship management, casino management system and loyalty program management. Because of the complexity in deploying and maintaining iGaming and online sports betting infrastructures, casino operators may rely on third-party service providers to operate and maintain all or part of the technology infrastructure on their behalf.
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Our Operating Models
B2B
Our product strategy for GameSTACK and GAN Sports is to provide a unified, flexible and highly scalable platform that can be rapidly deployed for RMiG and online sports betting. In addition to our platform, we offer a range of development, marketing and customer support services designed to fast-track deployments and provide ongoing operational support following commercial launch.
Our GameSTACK platform and related support services are designed to help our customers rapidly launch and scale their iGaming and online sportsbook operations. Our iGaming offerings support both social, or “freemium,” simulated online casino gaming in regulated and unregulated markets as well as RMiG for deployment in regulated markets. We measure the level of player engagement through key performance measures including Gross Operator Revenue, which we define as the sum of our B2B corporate customers’ gross revenue from SIM, gross gaming revenue from RMiG, and gross sports wins from sportsbook offerings, which we track for both SIM and RMiG operations.
Our GameSTACK customer base in the United States includes large regional operators as well as individual tribal casino operators that operate retail casino properties, racetracks and online sportsbooks. The largest portion of our U.S. business is in real money internet gambling with operators in the U.S. states where either (or both) internet casino gaming and sports betting are permitted by regulation.
B2C
Our principal B2C offerings are real-money online sports betting, online casino and peer-to-peer poker. We offer these products directly to the end customer through our website, which is also available on tablet and mobile devices in markets predominantly across Northern Europe and Latin America. In order to attract and retain customers, we seek to provide a high-quality customer experience through a high speed mobile website, excellent customer service and attractive odds. With our own technology and sportsbook software, and in cooperation with recognized providers for odds data and game content, we strive to provide the best online sportsbook and iGaming offering available, and believe that positive word of mouth referrals allowed us to increase our revenues and acquire customers at a lower cost than our competitors.
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Our Products and Service Offerings
B2B GameSTACK Platform, Development and Support Services
GameSTACK is a turnkey platform comprising proprietary enterprise software, computer hardware and specific proprietary software components such as our iSight Back Office tool (“iSight”) and the iBridge Framework. GameSTACK is a comprehensive proprietary hosted software platform providing our customers with account set-up, customer services facilitation, comprehensive player marketing tools, and the ability to deliver converged gambling across land-based retail casinos and the internet. While developing GameSTACK, we remained fully committed to building an evergreen and agile software architecture forged from a single code base, ensuring that developments in game mechanics, new back-office functionalities and integrations with leading third-party software could be capitalized on by our customers across all gameplay modalities. Importantly, we developed our code to operate in multiple jurisdictions and under different regulatory requirements, giving us the ability to leverage different configurations quickly to comply with newly regulated markets.
GameSTACK serves as the technical hub of our customers’ online gaming presence. The platform provides the foundational technology and back-office tools necessary for a successful consumer experience, including intuitive player account activation, sophisticated payment services, geolocation, marketing, loyalty club linking and real-time analytics and reporting. The core of the GameSTACK platform is its player account management system, in which highly sensitive consumer and player activity data is stored and processed. This information is the layer of any casino operator’s online technology deployment that becomes the focal point of regulatory licensure since it is the fortified vault of player data and privacy. GameSTACK also relies on a flexible integration services layer in order to integrate easily with other essential third-party systems such as casino management systems, remote gaming servers, sports betting engines, and marketing services applications.
Real Money iGaming
Our RMiG instances of GameSTACK incorporate comprehensive player registration, account funding and back-office accounting and management tools that enable our casino operator customers to efficiently, confidently and effectively extend their presence online. For the individual players, our software enables them to create a regulatory-compliant iGaming account online, have their credentials properly validated in order to activate their account, deposit money into their account and proceed to wager that money on any content we provide on the relevant casino operator’s website or mobile app. The online content may comprise a casino game such as roulette, blackjack or a casino slot machine game. Content may also comprise a myriad of sporting events on which the diverse outcomes can be wagered on.
We have optimized GameSTACK for RMiG, and in particular, U.S. internet casino gaming with geolocation tracking, Know-Your-Customer processes and a market-leading U.S. payments platform. Payment aggregation services within GameSTACK integrate with a wide range of third-party payment processors while simultaneously allowing our casino operators to accept cash deposits onsite within their retail casino properties, which are credited to the players’ online account.
In the United States, real money iGaming applications must comply with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 and with the federal Wire Act of 1961. Consequently, our RMiG customers must physically deploy our platform within their state’s borders, typically inside their retail casino premises or approved local hosting locations, in order to comply with intrastate regulatory mandates. Our customers generally procure the computer hardware on which our software, which the Company retains all rights to, is deployed inside of our customers’ data centers.
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GAN Sports retail and online sportsbook
GAN Sports, our newest product offering following the acquisition of Coolbet, is offered as an online and retail solution to U.S. casino operators as a complete turnkey solution for sports betting technology. The GAN Sports retail offering allows our customers to launch and operate their sportsbooks on their properties through self-service kiosks, with the ability to add an on-premises or statewide mobile versions.
Super Remote Gaming Server
GameSTACK may also be configured as a “super” remote gaming server (“Super RGS”), otherwise known as a remote gaming server aggregator, which can be deployed on behalf of existing internet casino operators in various U.S. states that are operating on their own proprietary or third-party platform. Super RGS provides these operators with access to all of our proprietary games, our current (and all future) remote gaming server integrations, as well as our robust content library of internet casino games. Super RGS creates a technical and commercial vehicle for us to deliver our proprietary casino content and third-party game content across the entirety of the relevant U.S. intrastate markets. Our Super RGS provides for a cost and time savings for new and existing market operators to more efficiently manage their game content.
Simulated Gaming
Our SIM product is custom-designed for the U.S. casino operators seeking to bring their retail brand online and create a new internet gaming experience delivered as an amenity to their players and leveraging their on-property rewards program using the common code base shared with GameSTACK for RMiG. For SIM implementations, we design the casino operator’s mobile application and website with a branded experience that is consistent with the casino operator’s brand and market positioning. Our iSight technology provides management tools and streamlines player registration and account funding. We generally host our customers’ SIM operations on a combination of proprietary and cloud servers.
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iSight Back Office
GameSTACK provides operators with a range of day-to-day back-office management tools along with integration application program interfaces for third-party casino management systems. With the iSight management tool, our casino operators have complete control over their content selection, player communications, website layout, process automation and real-time analytics.
iBridge Framework
Our proprietary iBridge Framework is a core feature of our platform, enabling operators to engage online players with innovative loyalty offers. iBridge provides our operator customers the ability to automatically verify whether a new online player is part of an existing offline loyalty database. iBridge allows operators to unite in-casino complimentary items and services, loyalty points and other offers with online play. This enables casino operators to engage their customers online, reinforcing brand loyalty, as well as encouraging online players to visit retail properties. Our platform integrates with a variety of third-party casino management systems, eliminating the need for operators to create and maintain two disparate databases as their online businesses grows.
Development Services
We provide platform development services, which consist of initial deployment of gaming hosting facilities and ongoing development services to provide updates to the software for enhanced functionality or customization.
Customer Support Services
We provide a range of term-based operational services to support our customers’ online gaming activities. Our premier offering is a full turnkey combination of marketing services and customer support services. Our managed services teams provide user acquisition, customer retention management, and customer functions for our operator customers to help them in acquiring and retaining players. These services are designed to fast-track deployments and provide ongoing operational support following commercial launch for our customers. We offer marketing and customer services to our casino operator customers to support their deployment of our RMiG and SIM solutions. Our tailored customer support services include player customer support across email, phone and live chat, marketing agency services and network management with 24/7 uptime guarantee.
Non-U.S. B2C
B2C Product Offerings
We operate the B2C gaming site www.coolbet.com outside of the U.S., which predominantly operates in select Northern Europe and Latin America markets. The site offers sports betting, poker, casino, live casino and virtual sports. Coolbet.com is built on proprietary software, including a proprietary sportsbook engine and risk management tools, enabling us to offer a highly differentiated entertainment experience when compared to other B2C gaming sites who rely on third-party technology stacks. Because we predominantly rely on in-house technology, we can rapidly enter new international markets with deeply local and tailor made content. Our B2C product offerings include:
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Sports Betting
We manage an award-winning online sportsbook allowing customers to place various types of wagers on the outcome of sporting events around the world. We operate as the bookmaker and offer a large variety of betting types in a given event, including both pre-match and in-play (placed after a sports event has begun) wagers. We offer the ability to place bets on all major sports including football, basketball, baseball, American football, ice hockey and tennis, as well as emerging sports such as eSports and smaller sports. Coolbet’s proprietary sportsbook features specialist odds compiled by in-house product experts, which leads to more attractive odds and offers on local sports events and a higher value proposition for customers.
Online Casino
We offer thousands of digital and live dealer casino games provided by recognized game content creators, integrated into our proprietary technology. The casino product features many proprietary features and functionalities driving customer engagement. Live Casino, through its digital online casino offering in selected markets, allows customers to place wagers and play games through a real-time streaming video solution. Coolbet.com offers customers a catalog of over 8,500 third-party iGaming titles across skill-based games such as Poker and chance-based games, such as digital slot machines and table games such as Blackjack and Roulette.
Poker
Poker allows registered customers to play poker against each other in cash games and tournaments directly on the website www.coolbet.com in real-time.
Competition
We operate in a global and dynamic market and compete with a variety of organizations that offer services similar to those that we offer. Our B2B operations face competition primarily from: (i) online casino content suppliers that provide content direct to consumers; (ii) retail casino operators that develop their own proprietary online gaming capabilities; and (iii) other similar existing or developing technology providers that develop competing platforms.
We believe the principal competitive factors in our B2B operations include rapid deployment, ease of integration with existing and future content and gaming, ease of user registration and conversion, regulatory compliance, data security, back-office management systems, reliability, and platform extensibility.
Our B2C operations compete against a variety of online sportsbook and casino operators, which range from large international organizations with greater advertising and marketing resources to local players that provide specific opportunities in local markets.
We believe the principal competitive factors in our B2C operations include the overall customer mobile and online experience, better and more reliable odds making, ease of use and our customer service.
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Customers and Ecosystem
Our principal B2B customers are retail casino operators and online casino brands.
Our retail casino operator customers typically require a regulatory compliant and complete enterprise technology solution provider for setting up, launching and operating an internet gaming business to drive incremental and complementary revenues to their existing retail gaming business. When a U.S. casino looks to expand online, there is a small group of potential technology vendors available to serve their needs, and an even smaller subset of companies which are B2B-only business and fully licensed for U.S. internet gaming. We believe we are one of the few companies whose operational know-how and proven track record of excellence represent a substantial competitive advantage.
New retail and online casino operator customers who use our GAN Sports and GameSTACK enterprise solutions require a cutting-edge platform and sportsbook, often to replace their existing technology. Our full enterprise solution, including retail sports, kiosk deployment, mobile sports and platform technologies, provides our customers with flexibility to meet their specific needs, from customers that require an all-encompassing market, customer, and sports trading services solution, to those larger self-managed operator customers looking to operate on a cutting-edge technology. Beyond our GAN Sports sportsbook content, by proactively investing in development resources, we have brought together within GameSTACK a solution which offers the leading service providers spanning payment processing, pre-paid card services, age and identity verification, and geolocation, providing our customers with a best-in-class solution from end-to-end, right out of the box.
The GAN family of casino operator customers represent leading U.S. gaming groups, both retail and online. Some of our casino operator customers utilize our GameSTACK platform specifically for real money iGaming or online social casinos, while others utilize our full enterprise solution for RMiG as well as retail and mobile sportsbook. Whether these customers utilize our technology for some or all of their needs, our customers own retail operations spanning over 100 retail locations, operate tens of thousands of slot machine units on their casino gaming floors, and possess millions of dedicated loyalty club card holding players within their loyalty program databases.
For the year ended December 31, 2024, one of our customers, FanDuel, accounted for 15.3% of our total revenue. Beginning in 2013, we partnered with FanDuel’s majority shareholder, Flutter Entertainment plc (formerly known as PaddyPower Betfair plc), to support FanDuel’s rapid deployment of online sports betting sites in selected states that had legalized single-game sports betting. Under our current commercial agreements, we provide access to the GameSTACK platform and provide development and support services to FanDuel in the U.S. and Ontario, Canada.
Our U.S. commercial agreement with FanDuel provided that we were the exclusive provider of their casino gaming operations for a three year period, which exclusivity ended in January 2023. Following the exclusivity period, FanDuel has the right to use other casino gaming solutions, subject to a requirement to pay us revenue calculated as a certain percentage of their net gaming revenue from RMiG operations. Accordingly, we could experience a significant decline in our revenue now that the exclusivity period has expired. We currently support FanDuel’s RMiG casino operations in the U.S. states of Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Our current U.S. commercial contract with FanDuel expired in January 2025.
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Our B2C casino and sports betting platform is accessible for wagering through the website www.coolbet.com in markets across Northern Europe, Latin America, and Canada. Coolbet.com originally launched May 2016 and as of December 31, 2024, had over 1.9 million registered customers. The majority of website traffic comes from mobile customers and each region features customized interfaces with localized product offerings and local language support teams.
Seasonality
Our online sports betting operations experience seasonality based on the relative popularity of certain sporting events, in particular with respect to local and international football seasons and high-profile international and regional tournaments. This seasonality could be exacerbated by cancellations of sporting events in addition to off-seasons, but can also provide increased volume during high-volume events such as the World Cup and overlapping sports calendars.
Intellectual Property Rights
We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark and/or trade secret laws in the United States and other jurisdictions, as well as license agreements and other contractual protections, to protect our intellectual property. We also rely on a number of registered and unregistered trademarks to protect our brand.
As of December 31, 2024, we had two registered trademarks in the United Kingdom relating to our proprietary technology.
We seek to protect our intellectual property rights by implementing a policy that requires our employees and independent contractors involved in development of intellectual property to enter into agreements acknowledging that all intellectual property generated or conceived by them on our behalf are our property, and assigning to us any rights that they may claim or otherwise have in those works or property, to the extent allowable under applicable law. Despite our efforts to protect our technology and proprietary rights through intellectual property registrations, licenses and contractual protections, unauthorized parties may still copy or otherwise obtain and use our software and technology. We may also face allegations in the future that we have infringed the intellectual property rights of third parties, including our competitors and non-practicing entities.
Government Regulation
We are subject to various U.S. and foreign laws and regulations that affect our ability to operate in the gaming and entertainment industry, in particular in the online gaming industry. These industries are generally subject to extensive and evolving regulations that could change based on political and social norms and that could be interpreted or enforced in ways that could negatively impact our business. Regulatory agencies in each of our operating markets continue to examine a wide variety of issues impacting the iGaming and sports betting industries, and consequently the laws and regulations governing our business could be modified or could be interpreted differently in the future, or new laws and regulations could be enacted. Material changes, new laws or regulations, or material differences in interpretations by courts or governmental authorities could cause us to incur substantial additional compliance costs and adversely affect our operating results. The primary means of enforcement of such regulations is through regulatory licenses.
Our B2B operations are licensed and regulated by the United Kingdom (“U.K.”) Gambling Commission, and are certified for the Italian market by the Gaming Labs International in Italy, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario in Canada, Agua Caliente, the Arizona Department of Gaming, the Connecticut Division of Gaming, the Gila River Indian Community, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, the West Virginia Lottery Commission, the Michigan Gaming Control Board, the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation, the Colorado Department of Revenue Division of Gaming, the Arizona Department of Gaming, the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection — Gaming Division, the Mississippi Gaming Commission, the Arkansas Racing Commission, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, the Maryland Lottery & Gaming Control, the Virginia Lottery, the Sault Ste. Marie Tripe of Chippewa Indians Gaming Commission, Seneca Gaming Authority, and the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Marie Tripe of Chippewa Indians Gaming Commission, and the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Entry into new geographies will require us to engage with additional regulatory authorities.
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Our B2C operations are also required to hold licenses in several jurisdictions. We hold gaming licenses in Estonia, Malta, Mexico, Sweden, and Peru. We hold gaming licenses in Estonia, Malta, Sweden, and Ontario, Canada. Our B2C sportsbook technology and technical platform is also certified by an accredited third-party according to the licensing requirements of the applicable gaming regulatory authorities. Our B2C sportsbook technology and technical platform is certified by an accredited third-party according to the licensing requirements of the regulatory authorities of Estonia, Malta, Sweden, and Ontario, Canada. We also have customers in jurisdictions that currently do not have a local licensing scheme but are accessible through our existing licenses. A number of these jurisdictions are evaluating the adoption of a local licensing scheme for the online sports betting and gaming operations that we currently offer. If regulations requiring licensure are adopted in those jurisdictions, we intend to apply for licensing, but we cannot be assured that we will receive licenses in each instance or that changes in regulation will not adversely impact our business.
Licensing Process
We are required to secure, and maintain, licenses to operate in each new jurisdictions where we conduct business and will need to secure additional licenses in order to expand operations to new markets. In newly regulated markets, new licensing regimes may impose licensing conditions, such as the requirement to locate significant technical infrastructure within the relevant territory or establish real-time data interfaces with the regulator that present operational challenges or may stop the licensee from being able to offer the full range of our products. Certain jurisdictions require us to hold a distributor license, while in other jurisdictions we need to qualify for a vendor license to supply our licensed customers. The licensing process can be burdensome and lengthy, depending on the local jurisdiction and their relative ability to move quickly, which is outside our control. Some jurisdictions will allow us to operate on a provisional license while the regulators process our applications. Other jurisdictions require full licensure prior to commencing operations. Accordingly, even as new regulated markets emerge, it is difficult to predict how quickly we will be able to derive revenues in such jurisdictions.
Data Protection and Privacy
As part of our operations, we establish player accounts and receive personal and financial information. Accordingly, our operations are subject to privacy and data protection regulation in the United States, the U.K., the European Union, Asia Pacific, and elsewhere. These laws are rapidly developing and changing. The European Union adopted a comprehensive General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which came into effect in May 2018, as supplemented by any national laws (such as the Data Protection Act 2018 in the U.K.) and further implemented through binding guidance from the European Data Protection Board. In the United States, several states have adopted revised legislation to expand data breach notification rules and to mirror some of the protections provided by the GDPR. Some states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, and Nevada, have adopted data protection legislation that requires companies to make significant changes in their data processing operations.
Compliance
We have developed and implemented an internal compliance program designed to ensure that we comply with legal and regulatory requirements imposed on us in connection with our gaming operations. Our internal compliance program focuses, among other things, on ensuring we comply with applicable licensing requirements and local gaming regulations. In addition, we have a dedicated data protection officer and compliance officer to strengthen the overall compliance capabilities of the organization.
Additionally, we use various methods and tools across our operations such as geolocation blocking, which restricts access based on a user’s geographical location determined through a series of data points such as mobile devices and Wi-Fi networks; age verification to ensure our users are of a certain age to participate; routine monitoring of user activity; and risk-based user due diligence to ensure player funds are legitimately derived. We have a zero-tolerance approach to money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud and collusion. All of our games and platforms are certified and tested by various private accreditation organizations, such as the Gaming Laboratories International, which is a leading industry provider for online gaming testing and certification. All of our games and platforms are certified and tested by various private accreditation organizations, such as, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement’s technical testing laboratory and the Gaming Laboratories International, which is a leading industry provider for online gaming testing and certification.
While we are firmly committed to full compliance with all applicable laws and have developed appropriate policies and procedures to comply with the requirements of the evolving regulatory regimes, we cannot provide assurance that our compliance program will prevent all violations of applicable laws or regulations, or that a violation by us or our personnel will not result in a monetary fine or suspension or revocation of one or more of our licenses.
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Social Responsibility
We maintain an open, honest and responsible approach towards our stakeholders, which include our employees, suppliers, customers, investors and the wider community. As both a B2B provider of games of skill and chance in regulated intrastate internet gaming markets, we have placed our responsible gaming policies and tools at the core of our vision to provide industry-leading entertainment in a socially responsible fashion. Our GameSTACK software platform has a myriad of features for detection and prevention of problem gambling as well as offering tools to end user players to limit their gaming activities online, in compliance with the challenging technical requirements of the U.S. states we are licensed in, as well as other jurisdictions.
Our platform services enable our casino operators to offer their players an array of tools to control their spending, including deposit limits, wagering value limits, wagering frequency limits, time limits, definable self-exclusion and/or cooling-off periods. These limitations, coupled with sophisticated reporting and analytics, allows operators to identify potentially compulsive behavior and take the required action to ensure the protection of any vulnerable players in line with their operating requirements in the relevant intrastate gaming market. Our teams are extensively trained in the area of responsible gaming, to assist end user players displaying signs of gambling addiction and guide them in the correct direction to seek assistance. We also, in conjunction with our customers and third-party service partners, provide robust age verification processes to ensure that no minors can access the gaming opportunities provided on our customer’s websites.
Human Capital Resources
We are committed to investing in our employees while nurturing a work environment that fosters global and cross-functional collaboration. Our leadership team actively works to attract, develop, and retain talent from a range of backgrounds and experiences.
Our Global Workforce
As of December 31, 2024, we had 626 total employees, of which 621 were full-time and 5 were part-time. Approximately 90% of these employees were located outside the United States. The majority of our employees work within the operations function, which includes the majority of the technical and product employees. The majority of our employees are working within the operations function, which includes the majority of the technical and product employees. The charts below show our global employee population by region and operational function.
As we continue to maintain our footprint across multiple countries, we have refocused efforts on building processes and systems that encourage our employees to adopt a global mindset and ways of working. This refocus means creating more efficient methods for collaborating across multiple time zones and making the time to hone communication skills to further productive and interactive working relationships. This effort also translates to offering programs and employees events at a worldwide scale where all employees are able to bond over shared interests and experiences.
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Diversity and Inclusion
We are committed to a diverse global workforce and fostering a culture of inclusivity and belonging. We promote diversity and inclusion in all our policies and general business practices. We further seek to establish an environment of respect and understanding in the workplace and a culture that values and reflects the diverse components of our employees and the communities in which we operate. This is reinforced in our global employee events and training courses. As we further expand on our global footprint, we will continue to expand on these efforts.
Pay and Benefits
We continue to offer market-based, competitive wages and benefits in all markets where we compete for talent. The pay structure has evolved to be positioned around the market median within each market, with variances based on knowledge, skills, years of experience, and performance. We regularly evaluate pay equity, expanding our review to include race/ethnicity in addition to gender. We adopt a total rewards approach to our compensation philosophy – which accounts for all monetary and non-monetary elements. This includes base wages, non-cash benefit programs, which vary by country, short-term cash incentives, long-term incentives (e.g., cash and share-based awards), employee savings plans with providers for company matching, healthcare and insurance benefits (in the United States), health savings spending accounts with providers for company matching (in the United States), paid time off, leave options, and employee assistance programs. We also encourage our employees to focus on their overall wellness. We expanded our traditional monthly fitness reimbursements to include exercise equipment, wellness programs and treatments, and app subscriptions in support of nutrition, behavior based health or activities that encourage movement. We also respect our employees’ needs for flexibility and balance between work and life. We support a flexible working model where employees may work from the office or from home. We also continue to offer support to employees who work from home by providing reimbursement for work related expenses.
Workforce Health and Safety
Our employees indicated a need for flexibility in where they work. In response, we moved to a model that adapted to the workplace culture and working needs per country. For example, in the United States and United Kingdom, we moved to a remote-first working structure and substantially reduced our office footprint. In Estonia and Bulgaria, employees desire in-office collaboration and are in the office several days a week based on the team’s working schedule.
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Employee Engagement
It’s our goal to continue to provide an environment where our employees can be the best versions of themselves and have the support they need to deliver extraordinary results for themselves and our company. We expanded our employee engagement programming to accommodate local gatherings where we have a concentrated employee base. For other locales with a much more distributed workforce, virtual group and team events were offered. We also held several local events in the jurisdictions where we operate to build a sense of company community. We also held several global events to build a sense of company community.
Information about Segment and Geographic Revenue
Our segment and geographic revenue information is described in Note 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this report.
Available information
We make available free of charge (other than an investor’s own internet access charges) through our internet website (https://www.investors.gan.com) our Annual Report on Form 10-K and other reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). We are not including the information contained on our website as part of or incorporating it by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition, the SEC maintains an internet site, https://www.sec.gov, that includes filings of and information about issuers that file electronically with the SEC.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and information below, as well as all other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our consolidated statements, the notes thereto and the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” before you decide to purchase shares of our common stock. Below, we describe risks that we currently believe are the material risks in connection with our operations. These are not the only risks we face; we are subject to risks that are currently unknown to us, or that we may currently believe are remote or immaterial. If any of these risks or events occurs, our business prospects, financial condition, stock price, and operating results could be harmed.
Risks Related to Our Business
We have incurred net losses in the past with negative cash flows and may not be able to generate and sustain profitability or sufficient liquidity.
Since our inception, we have typically operated at a loss. At December 31, 2024 we had an accumulated deficit of $317.3 million. We incurred a net loss of $8.0 million and $34.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. We incurred a net loss of $34.4 million and $197.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Additional losses would impair our liquidity and may require us to raise additional capital or to curtail certain of our operations in an effort to preserve capital. Incurring additional losses could also erode investor confidence in our ability to manage our business effectively and result in a decline in the price of our ordinary shares. See Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Liquidity and Capital Resources” of this Report and Note 2 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies in our consolidated financial statements for additional information regarding our liquidity position.
We operate in a rapidly evolving industry and if we fail to successfully develop, market or sell new products or adopt new technology platforms, it could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
Our success depends in part on our ability to keep pace with continuing changes in technology. Our GameSTACK platform and other software products compete in a market characterized by rapid technological advances, evolving standards in software technology and frequent new product introductions and enhancements that may render existing products and services obsolete. Competitors and operators are continuously upgrading their product offerings with new features, functions and gaming content. In addition, we continuously refine our software and technology platform to address regulatory changes in the markets in which we operate or plan to operate. In order to remain competitive, we will need to continuously modify and enhance our technology platform and service offerings.
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We cannot assure you that we will be able to respond to rapid technological changes in our industry. In addition, the introduction of new products or updated versions of existing products has inherent risks, including, but not limited to, risks concerning:
● | product quality, including the possibility of software defects, which could result in claims against us or the inability to sell our software products; |
● | the accuracy of our estimates of customer demand, and the fit of the new products and features with customers’ needs; |
● | the need to educate our sales, marketing and services personnel to work with the new products and features, which may strain our resources and lengthen sales cycles; |
● | market acceptance of initial product releases; and |
● | competitor product introductions, in-house customer solutions or regulatory changes that render our new products obsolete. |
Because we commit substantial resources to developing new software products and services, if the markets for these new products or services do not develop as anticipated, or demand for our products and services in these markets does not materialize or materializes later than we expect, we will have expended substantial resources and capital without realizing sufficient offsetting or resulting revenue, and our business and operating results could be materially adversely affected. Developing, enhancing and localizing software is expensive, and the investment in product development may involve a long payback cycle. Our future plans include significant additional investments in development of our software and other intellectual property. We believe that we must continue to dedicate a significant amount of resources to our development efforts to maintain our competitive position. However, we may not receive significant revenue from these investments for several years, if at all. In addition, as we or our competitors introduce new or enhanced products, the demand for our products, particularly older versions of our products may decline.
The online gaming industry is highly competitive, and if we fail to compete effectively, we could experience price reductions, reduced margins or loss of market share.
The online gaming industry is highly competitive. A number of companies offer products that are similar to our products and target the same markets as we do. Certain of our current and potential competitors have longer operating histories, significantly greater financial, technical and marketing resources, greater name recognition, broader or more integrated product offerings, larger technical staffs and a larger installed customer base than we do. These competitors may be able to respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements, develop superior products, and devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their products than we can.
Because of the rapid growth of our industry, and the relatively low capital barriers to entry in the software industry, we expect additional competition from other established and emerging companies. Some of our customers are land-based casinos that use our GameSTACK platform for rapid access to the online iGaming and sports betting markets. As these customers become more experienced or successful they may look to develop their own proprietary solutions or may look more aggressively at competing platforms. Additionally, our competitors could combine or merge to become more formidable competitors or may adapt more quickly than we can to new technologies, evolving industry trends and changing customer requirements. If we fail to compete effectively, (a) we could be compelled to reduce prices in order to be competitive, which could reduce margins and profitability, or (b) we would lose market shares either of which could materially adversely affect our strategy, our business, results of operations and financial condition.
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Under our revenue arrangements, if existing customers do not continue the use of our products or services, our results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
In our B2B segment, we generate revenue under contracts with casino operators that contemplate ongoing revenue arrangements that depend in part on the revenues of casino operators. The success of our business depends on our ability to retain our existing installed base of customers and to increase the scale of gaming and transactions that they run on our platform. We may experience the loss of a customer if the customer determines to close its operations, elects to develop its own online platform, or elects to contract with one of our competitors. In addition, casino operators that utilize our Super RGS platform may choose to contract directly with content providers. Such events could materially and adversely affect our revenues.
If our customers terminate their contracts with us, we will incur a reduction in revenue unless we are able to secure new customers in amounts sufficient to offset the loss. The sales cycle for our platform can be long, and there are no assurances that we will be able to rapidly replace the loss of a significant customer. A substantial portion of our expenses are fixed, and a loss of revenue would have a material adverse impact on our profitability and our financial position.
We have historically relied on a small number of customers for a substantial portion of our revenue.
For the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, our largest customer FanDuel accounted for 15.3% and 16.4%, respectively, of our total revenue. For the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, FanDuel accounted for 42.4% and 42.5%, respectively, of our total accounts receivable, net of credit losses. Customer concentration in our B2B segment will tend to be more pronounced as we expand our revenue from a smaller base.
Our business strategy encompasses securing a diverse customer base including attempting to expand the amount of business with our current customers and expand into new customer accounts as we enter new geographic markets. While our 2021 acquisition of Coolbet substantially diversified our customer base, we operate in a dynamic industry, in which regulatory restrictions and enabling technologies are changing rapidly. As such, certain of our customers may experience more rapid growth than other customers, resulting in a concentration of revenue from time to time in one or a few significant customers.
At any time that we experience significant customer concentration, the loss of a key customer, for any reason, would have a significant impact on our revenue, our ability to fund operating expenses, and our financial position. In addition, the loss of any material customer could significantly decrease our market share and harm our reputation, which could affect our ability to grow and take advantage of new markets, access resulting data from such markets, and secure funding to invest into development of new products.
Our B2C sports betting operations exposes us to losses as a result of a failure to determine accurately the odds in relation to any particular event and/or any failure of its sports risk management processes, or if outcome-driven events result in unfavorable results.
Our fixed-odds wagering contracts involve betting where winnings are paid on the basis of the amount wagered and the odds quoted. Our sports betting operation is designed to set odds at a level that will provide the bookmaker with an average return over a large number of events. However, there can be significant variation in the gross win percentage for a single event or fixed period of time.
Our systems and controls seek to reduce the risk of daily losses occurring on a gross-win basis, but there can be no assurance that these controls will be effective in all situations, and consequently we face exposure to risks relating to its failure to set accurate odds or managing its sports betting risk. We may experience significant losses with respect to individual events or betting outcomes, in particular if large individual bets are placed on an event or outcomes that create disproportionate weighting to such outcomes on the events.
Odds compilers and risk managers are capable of human error, thus even allowing for the fact that a number of betting products are subject to capped pay-outs, significant volatility can occur. Any significant losses could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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A reduction in discretionary consumer spending, from an economic downturn or disruption of financial markets or other factors, could negatively impact our financial performance.
iGaming and sports betting that we and our customers offer represent discretionary expenditures. Players’ participation in those activities may decline if discretionary consumer spending declines, including during economic downturns, when consumers generally earn less disposable income. Changes in discretionary consumer spending or consumer preferences are driven by factors beyond our control, such as:
● | perceived or actual general economic conditions; |
● | fears of recession and changes in consumer confidence in the economy; |
● | high energy, fuel and other commodity costs; |
● | the potential for bank failures or other financial crises; |
● | a soft job market; |
● | an actual or perceived decrease in disposable consumer income and wealth; |
● | increases in taxes, including gaming taxes or fees; and |
● | terrorist attacks or other global events. |
During periods of economic contraction, our revenues may decrease while most of our costs remain fixed and some costs even increase, resulting in decreased earnings.
Macroeconomic conditions can materially adversely affect the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition.
Recent adverse macroeconomic conditions, including inflation, higher interest rates, slower growth or recession, the strengthening of the U.S. dollar, and corresponding currency fluctuations can have an adverse material impact on the Company’s future results of operations, cash flows, and financial condition, particularly with respect to foreign currency adjustments relating to our international operations. Such conditions may also affect consumers’ willingness to make discretionary purchases, and therefore the Company, along with its casino operator customers, may experience a decline in wagering. A downturn in the economic environment can also lead to increased credit and collectability risk on the Company’s trade receivables, limitations on the Company’s ability to issue new debt, and reduced liquidity.
We face the risk of fraud, theft, and cheating.
We face the risk that players may attempt or commit fraud or theft or cheat in order to increase winnings. Such risks include stolen credit or charge cards and hacked or stolen customer accounts. Failure to discover such acts or schemes in a timely manner could result in losses in our operations. Negative publicity related to such acts or schemes could have an adverse effect on our reputation, potentially causing a material adverse effect on our business.
We face cyber security risks that could result in damage to our reputation and/or subject us to fines, payment of damages, lawsuits and restrictions on our use of data.
We rely extensively on computer systems to process transactions, maintain information and manage our businesses. In addition, our business involves the collection, storage, processing, and transmission of end users’ personal data, including financial information and information about how they interact with our games and platform. We have built our reputation, in part, on the sophistication and security of our payment and financial processing.
Our industry is prone to cyber-attacks by third parties seeking unauthorized access to our information systems and data or to disrupt our ability to provide service. Our information systems and data, including those we maintain with our third-party service providers, may be subject to cyber security breaches in the future. Computer programmers and hackers may be able to penetrate our network security and misappropriate, copy or pirate our confidential information or that of third parties, create system disruptions or cause interruptions or shutdowns of our internal systems and services. Our website may become subject to denial of service attacks, where a website is bombarded with information requests eventually causing the website to overload, resulting in a delay or disruption of service. Computer programmers and hackers also may be able to develop and deploy viruses, worms and other malicious software programs that attack our products or otherwise exploit any security vulnerabilities of our products. Also, there is a growing trend of advanced persistent threats being launched by organized and coordinated groups against corporate networks to breach security for malicious purposes.
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Disruptions in the availability of our computer systems, through cyber-attacks or otherwise, could damage our computer or telecommunications systems, impact our ability to service our customers, adversely affect our operations and the results of operations, and have an adverse effect on our reputation. The costs to us to eliminate or alleviate security problems, bugs, viruses, worms, malicious software programs and security vulnerabilities could be significant, and the efforts to address these problems could result in interruptions, delays, cessation of service and loss of existing or potential customers and may impede our sales, distribution and other critical functions. Although we plan to continuously develop systems and processes to protect our information systems and data, we cannot assure you that such measures will provide absolute security, that we will be able to react in a timely manner, or that our remediation efforts will be successful. We may also be subject to regulatory penalties and litigation by customers and other parties whose information has been compromised, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, results of operations and cash flows.
Systems failures and resulting interruptions in the availability of our websites, applications, products, or services could harm our business.
The full-time availability and expeditious delivery of our products and services is a critical part of our solution offering to our consumers. Our systems may experience service interruptions or degradation because of hardware and software defects or malfunctions, distributed denial-of-service and other cyberattacks, human error, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, and other natural disasters, power losses, disruptions in telecommunications services, fraud, military or political conflicts, terrorist attacks, computer viruses or other malware, or other events. Some of our systems are not fully redundant, and our disaster recovery planning may not be sufficient for all eventualities. In addition, as a provider of payments solutions, we are subject to heightened scrutiny by regulators that may require specific business continuity, resiliency and disaster recovery plans, and more rigorous testing of such plans, which may be costly and time-consuming and may divert our resources from other business priorities.
We also rely on facilities, components, and services supplied by third parties, including data center facilities and cloud storage services. If these third parties cease to provide the facilities or services, experience operational interference or disruptions, breach their agreements with us, fail to perform their obligations and meet our expectations, or experience a cybersecurity incident, our operations could be disrupted or otherwise negatively affected, which could result in customer dissatisfaction and damage to our reputation and brands, and materially and adversely affect our business. We do not carry business interruption insurance sufficient to compensate us for all losses that may result from interruptions in our service as a result of systems failures and similar events.
A prolonged interruption in the availability or reduction in the availability, speed, or functionality of our products and services will result in a loss of revenue and could materially harm our business. Frequent or persistent interruptions in our services could cause current or potential customers to believe that our systems are unreliable, leading them to switch to our competitors or to avoid or reduce the use of our products and services, and could permanently harm our reputation and brands. Moreover, if any system failure or similar event results in damages to our customers or their business partners, these customers or partners could seek significant compensation or contractual penalties from us for their losses, and those claims, even if unsuccessful, would likely be time-consuming and costly for us to address.
We have experienced significant non-cash impairment charges to our intangible assets, which may affect our results of operations in the future.
Definite-lived intangible assets are evaluated for impairment if an event or change occurs such that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. Unfavorable changes in the business climate or competitive environment, our revenue forecasts, our market capitalization, capital structure, capital expenditure levels, operating cash flows, as well as adverse legal or regulatory actions or developments could cause material impairments to the carrying value of our intangible assets or intangible assets we may obtain in future periods.
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We rely on relationships with third-party content providers for a significant portion of our revenue.
We currently license gaming content from third-party software providers for inclusion in our online games and content offerings. We license these rights to provide our customers with access to online versions of popular casino-based games, reduce our development costs, to expand our content offerings and to shorten our time to market with new products and solutions. Our B2B business model is predicated on sharing revenue with our casino operators. If we were to lose access to popular game titles and content, our casino operators may experience a decline in wagering, reducing their revenue and ours. We could be compelled to pay higher prices for licenses, or incur increased expenses in an effort to develop our proprietary content, but there are no guarantees that we would be successful in either approach. The loss of compelling content could also make our solution and product offering less competitive, and our operators’ customers may look for alternative vendors with access to different content.
In addition, a significant portion of customers are introduced to us by our network of content manufacturers. These content manufacturers include casino equipment manufacturers and casino gaming content designers, which do not manufacture physical gaming equipment. We may experience difficulty in maintaining or establishing third-party relationships with our content manufacturers. If we are unable to maintain good relations with our content manufacturers, our ability to organically grow our business could be harmed, which may materially adversely affect operating results and financial condition. Additionally, we are exposed to the risk that the content manufacturers through which we indirectly promote our products and services will not devote sufficient time, attention and resources to learning our products, markets and potential customers and may promote and sell competing products and services.
If we are unable to protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights, our competitive position and our business could be materially adversely affected.
The iGaming and online sports betting industries are subject to rapid technological change and we and a number of our competitors are developing technology and intellectual property that we believe is unique and provides us with a commercial advantage. We regard the protection of our developed technologies and intellectual property rights as a competitive differentiation and an important element of our business operations and crucial to our success. Unauthorized use of our intellectual property and proprietary rights may reduce our revenue, devalue our brands and property and harm our reputation.
We rely primarily on a combination of trademark laws, copyright laws, trade secrets, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our proprietary technology. We generally require our employees, consultants and advisors to enter into invention contribution and confidentiality agreements. Our efforts to protect our proprietary rights may not be adequate to prevent misappropriation of our intellectual property. We may not be able to detect unauthorized use of, or take appropriate steps to enforce, our intellectual property rights. Further, the laws of many countries, including countries where we conduct business, do not protect our proprietary rights to as great an extent as do the laws of the United States and European countries. Our reliance upon copyright and trade secret laws to adequately protect our technology, might make it easier for our competitors to offer similar products or technologies. The failure of our patent, or our reliance upon copyright and trade secret laws to adequately protect our technology, might make it easier for our competitors to offer similar products or technologies.
We may in the future need to initiate litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights. Litigation can be expensive and time-consuming and may divert the efforts of our technical staff and managerial personnel, which could harm our business. In addition, litigation is inherently uncertain, and thus we may not be able to stop our competitors from infringing upon our intellectual property rights.
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We face the risk that third parties will claim that we infringe on their intellectual property rights, which could result in costly license fees or expensive litigation.
While we respect third parties’ intellectual property rights and have procedures designed to avoid the inadvertent use of third-party intellectual property, we may face claims from our competitors that the products or solutions that we develop, or those provided to us by third parties or used by our customers, infringe on third parties’ intellectual property rights. Some of our competitors have substantially greater resources than we do and are able to sustain the costs of complex intellectual property litigation to a greater degree and for longer periods of time than we could. In addition, patent holding companies that focus solely on extracting royalties and settlements by enforcing patent rights may target us.
Any such claim may seek to prohibit our use of the third-party’s intellectual property rights or may require us to obtain licenses from the holders of the patents or other intellectual property rights. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain any such licenses on commercially favorable terms, or at all. If we do not obtain such licenses, we could, for example, be required to cease or materially alter our product offerings and our business, operating results and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
Future litigation may be necessary to defend ourselves, our customers or our partners by determining the scope, enforceability and validity of third-party proprietary rights or to establish our proprietary rights. Regardless of whether the infringement claims have any merit, defense of intellectual property litigation is time-consuming, costly to evaluate and defend, and could:
● | adversely affect our relationships with our current or future customers or partners; |
● | cause delays or stoppages in providing new sales of our products; |
● | cause us to have to cease use of certain technology or products; |
● | require technology changes that would cause us to incur substantial cost; |
● | require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements on unfavorable terms; and |
● | divert management’s attention and resources. |
In addition, many of our contracts provide our customers or partners with indemnification with respect to their use of our intellectual property. We cannot predict whether any existing or future third-party intellectual property rights would require us to alter our technologies, obtain licenses or cease certain activities.
We face risks related to health epidemics and other widespread outbreaks of contagious disease, which could disrupt our operations and impact our operating results.
Significant outbreaks of contagious diseases, and other adverse public health developments, could have a material impact on our business operations and operating results.
The impact of public health threats or outbreaks of communicable diseases is uncertain. Although our business proved resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is uncertain whether this trend will continue, as the economic disruption and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may be repeated in the event of future severe outbreaks or variants. In the event of a public health crisis, government authorities may, from time to time, implement various mitigation measures, including travel restrictions, limitations on business operations, stay-at-home orders and social distancing protocols. Any prolonged deviations from normal daily operations could negatively impact our business. Additionally, any prolonged disruption of our content providers, customers, players or regulatory reviewers could delay regulatory approvals or conclusions related to new products or the finalization of new contracts entered into by us.
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We are subject to risks related to corporate social responsibility, responsible gaming, reputation and ethical conduct.
Many factors influence our reputation and the value of our brands, including the perception held by our customers, business partners, investors, other key stakeholders and the communities in which we operate, such as our social responsibility, corporate governance and responsible gaming practices. We have faced, and will likely continue to face, increased scrutiny related to social, governance and responsible gaming activities, and our reputation and the value of our brands can be materially adversely harmed if we fail to act responsibly in a number of areas, such as diversity and inclusion, workplace conduct, responsible gaming, human rights, philanthropy and support for the local communities. Any harm to our reputation could impact employee engagement and retention, and the willingness of customers and partners to do business with us, which could have a materially adverse effect on our business, results of operations and cash flows.
We believe that our reputation is critical to our role as a leader in the online gaming industry and as a publicly traded company. Our Board has adopted a Code of Business Conduct as well as other related policies and procedures, and management is heavily focused on the integrity of our directors, officers, senior management, employees, other personnel and third-party suppliers and partners. Illegal, unethical or fraudulent activities perpetrated by any of such individuals, suppliers or partners for personal gain could expose us to potential reputational damage and financial loss.
Risks Related to the Merger
Regulatory approvals of the Merger may not be received, may take longer than expected, or may impose conditions that could allow SEGA SAMMY CREATION to abandon the Merger.
Before the Merger may be completed, various regulatory approvals must be obtained from a number of relevant gaming authorities. In determining whether to grant these approvals, such regulatory authorities consider a variety of factors, including the regulatory standing of each party. These approvals could be delayed or not obtained at all due to a number of factors considered by regulators when granting such approvals or the political environment generally.
The approvals that are granted may impose terms and conditions, limitations, obligations or costs, or place restrictions on the conduct of SEGA SAMMY CREATION’S or the combined company’s business. There can be no assurance that regulators will not impose any such conditions, limitations, obligations or restrictions and that such conditions, limitations, obligations or restrictions will not have the effect of delaying the completion of any of the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, or result in the delay or abandonment of the Merger. Additionally, the completion of the Merger is conditioned on the absence of certain orders, injunctions or decrees by any court or regulatory agency of competent jurisdiction that would prohibit or make illegal the completion of any of the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement.
The Merger Agreement between us, SEGA SAMMY CREATION and Merger Sub may be terminated in accordance with its terms and the Merger may not be completed.
The Merger Agreement is subject to a number of conditions which must be fulfilled in order to complete the Merger. Those conditions include, among other things: (i) approval by our shareholders of the Merger and Merger Agreement (which occurred on February 13, 2024); (ii) the receipt of applicable regulatory gaming authorities and other authorities; (iii) the absence of any order, injunction, decree or other legal restraint preventing the consummation of the Merger or any of the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement or making the completion of the Merger or any of the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement illegal; (iv) that Chile does not enact any law (which is not reasonably capable of being overturned or complied with) that renders our online gaming operations illegal in that country, and (v) the accuracy of the Company’s representations and warranties contained in the Merger Agreement (subject to certain customary qualifications) and compliance by the Company with its agreements and covenants contained in the Merger Agreement.
These conditions to the closing may not be fulfilled in a timely manner or at all, and, accordingly, the Merger may not be completed. In addition, the parties can mutually decide to terminate the Merger Agreement at any time, before or after the requisite shareholder approvals, SEGA SAMMY CREATION’S may terminate the Merger Agreement if applicable gaming regulatory authorities impose restrictions or impositions that would have a material adverse effect on SEGA SAMMY CREATION’S or the combined company’s business, or we or SEGA SAMMY CREATION may elect to terminate the Merger Agreement in certain other circumstances. In addition, the parties can mutually decide to terminate the Merger Agreement at any time, before or after the requisite shareholder approvals, Sega may terminate the Merger Agreement if applicable gaming regulatory authorities impose restrictions or impositions that would have a material adverse effect on Sega’s or the combined company’s business, or we or Sega may elect to terminate the Merger Agreement in certain other circumstances.
We may not be able to effect the Merger pursuant to the Merger Agreement, and failure to complete the Merger could negatively impact our stock price and the future business and financial results of the Company.
In connection with the Merger Agreement, we have incurred substantial costs planning and negotiating the transaction. These costs include, but are not limited to, costs associated with employing and retaining third-party advisors who performed the financial, auditing, and legal services required before we were able to enter into the Merger Agreement and which will continue as we seek to complete the transaction. If, for whatever reason, including those set forth above, the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement fail to close, we will be responsible for these costs, which could adversely affect our liquidity and financial results.
Our stock price may decline significantly if the Merger is not completed. If the Merger is not completed, our ongoing business may be adversely affected and the Company will be subject to a number of risks, including the following:
● | We may be required to pay a termination fee of $6.0 million if the Merger Agreement is terminated under certain circumstances; |
● | We will be required to pay certain costs relating to the Merger, such as legal, accounting, financial advisor and printing fees whether or not the Merger is completed; |
● | Matters relating to the Merger may require substantial commitments of time and resources by our management, which could otherwise have been devoted to other opportunities that may have been beneficial to us; and |
● | Our customers, prospective customers, collaborators and other business partners and investors in general may view the failure to consummate the Merger as a poor reflection on our business or prospects. |
Risks Related to Regulation
The online gaming industry is heavily regulated and the Company’s failure to obtain or maintain applicable licensure or approvals, or otherwise comply with applicable requirements, could be disruptive to our business and could adversely affect our operations.
We and our officers, directors, major shareholders, key employees and business partners are generally subject to the laws and regulations relating to online gaming of the jurisdictions in which we conduct business, as well as the general laws and regulations that apply to all e-commerce businesses, such as those related to privacy and personal information, tax and consumer protection. With each new regulated market we enter, we are generally required to secure a gaming license. These laws and regulations vary from one jurisdiction to another and future legislative and regulatory action, court decisions or other governmental action, which may be affected by, among other things, political pressures, attitudes and climates, as well as personal biases, may have a material impact on our operations and financial results.
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Gaming authorities have broad discretion in determining whether to grant, or not to grant, a gaming license and/or whether to impose conditions or limitations upon such gaming license. The process of submitting applications may be expensive and time-consuming and the outcome is not assured. Regulatory regimes imposed upon gaming providers vary by jurisdiction. Typically, however, most regulatory regimes include the following elements:
● | the opportunity to apply for one or more gaming licenses for one or more categories of products, whether as part of a general round of license issuance (for example, Spain) or as and when the applicant chooses to apply; |
● | a requirement for gaming license applicants to make detailed and extensive disclosures as to their beneficial ownership, their source of funds, the probity and integrity of certain persons associated with the applicant, the applicant’s management competence and structure and business plans, the applicant’s proposed geographical territories of operation and the applicant’s ability to operate a gaming business in a socially responsible manner in compliance with applicable laws and regulations; |
● | interviews and assessments by the relevant gaming authority intended to inform a regulatory determination of the suitability of applicants for gaming licenses; |
● | assessments by the relevant gaming authority intended to inform a regulatory determination of the continued suitability of gaming license holders; |
● | ongoing reporting and disclosure obligations, both on a periodic and ad hoc basis in response to material issues affecting the business; |
● | the testing and certification of software and systems, generally designed to confirm such things as the fairness of the gaming products offered by the business, their genuine randomness and ability accurately to generate settlement instructions and recover from outages; |
● | the need to account for applicable gaming duties and other taxes and levies, such as fees or contributions to bodies that organize the sports on which bets are offered, as well as contributions to the prevention and treatment of problem gaming; and |
● | social responsibility obligations. |
If we fail to obtain the necessary gaming license in a given jurisdiction, we would likely be prohibited from distributing and providing our product offerings in that particular jurisdiction altogether. If we fail to seek, do not receive, or receive a suspension or revocation of a license in a particular jurisdiction for our product offerings (including any related technology and software) then we cannot offer the same in that jurisdiction and our gaming licenses in other jurisdictions may be impacted. Furthermore, some jurisdictions require license holders to obtain government approval before engaging in some transactions, such as business combinations, reorganizations, share offerings and repurchases. We may not be able to obtain all necessary gaming licenses in a timely manner, or at all. Delays in regulatory approvals or failure to obtain such approvals may also serve as a barrier to entry to the market for our product offerings. If we are unable to overcome the barriers to entry, it will materially affect our results of operations and future prospects.
To the extent new online gaming jurisdictions are established or expanded, we cannot guarantee we will be successful in penetrating such new jurisdictions or expanding our business or customer base in line with the growth of existing jurisdictions.
As we directly or indirectly enter into new markets, we may encounter legal, regulatory and political challenges that are difficult or impossible to foresee and which could result in an unforeseen adverse impact on planned revenues or costs associated with the new market opportunity. If we are unable to effectively develop and operate directly or indirectly within these new markets or if our competitors are able to successfully penetrate geographic markets that we cannot access or where we face other restrictions, then our business, operating results and financial condition could be impaired. Our failure to obtain or maintain the necessary regulatory approvals in jurisdictions, whether individually or collectively, would have a material adverse effect on our business.
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Once a gaming license is granted violations of any gaming related requirements could result in the revocation of a gaming license, the imposition of fines, conditions, or limitations, all of which could adversely affect our operations and financial viability.
Once we have been granted a gaming license, we are required to comply with the applicable statutory and/or regulatory requirements, policy directives, and license conditions and/or limitations. Failure to comply with any of such, could result in a gaming regulator bringing a disciplinary action against us. We have previously been assessed fines related to failure to comply with license conditions and codes of practice. We cannot predict the outcome of any current or future regulatory review.
Disciplinary action could range from the imposition of fines, further conditions or limitations imposed upon the gaming license, to the revocation of previously granted gaming licenses. The imposition of any such disciplinary actions could adversely affect our operations in that jurisdiction and its financial viability. Further, the disciplinary action in one jurisdiction could result in separate disciplinary action being brought by another gaming regulator, which could further adversely affect our operations in those jurisdictions and its financial viability.
The online gaming industry is rapidly expanding and evolving, which the proliferation of new and changing regulatory frameworks increases costs and increases the risk of non-compliance.
The online gaming and interactive entertainment industries are relatively new and continue to evolve. As additional jurisdictions initiate regulation, legal and regulatory developments (such as passing new laws or regulations or extending existing laws or regulations to online gaming and related activities), taxation of gaming activities, data and information privacy, anti-money laundering and ‘know your customer’ laws and regulations, and payment processing laws and regulations, are continuing to evolve in ways we are unable to predict and which are beyond our control.
Given the dynamic evolution of these industries, it can be difficult to plan strategically, including as it relates to product launches in new or existing jurisdictions, which may be delayed or denied, and it is possible that competitors will be more successful than us at adapting to change and pursuing business opportunities. Additionally, as the online gaming industry advances, including with respect to regulation in new and existing jurisdictions, we will become subject to additional compliance-related costs, including regulatory infractions, licensing and taxes. Consequently, we cannot provide assurance that our online and interactive offerings will grow at the rates expected or be successful in the long term.
Our B2C operations generate a significant portion of its revenues from “unregulated” markets and changes in regulation in those markets could result in us losing business in those markets, incurring additional expenses in order to comply with any new regulatory scheme, or potentially exiting the market.
Our B2C operations currently generate a significant portion of its revenues in markets that currently do not have a local licensing scheme, including Latin America and Northern Europe. Certain of those markets, or other markets where we may operate in the future, are in the process of developing regulations that require registration and regulatory compliance or could do so in the near term. The adoption of regulations and licensing requirements may increase costs, reduce net gaming revenue or require us to cease operations depending on the range of unforeseen developments in proposed rules and regulations governing online gaming in the international markets in which we currently operate.
Our B2C operations generate a significant portion of our revenue in markets where tax regulations are evolving, and could result in additional tax liabilities that could materially affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Our B2C operations currently generate a significant portion of its revenues in markets that have evolving tax legislation, including Latin America and Canada. Those markets, or other markets where we may operate in the future are actively considering or could adopt regulations that adversely affect our operations. The adoption of tax regulations may increase costs, reduce net gaming revenue or require us to cease operations depending on the range of unforeseen possible changes to the statutes governing online gaming in the international markets in which we currently operate.
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Compliance with evolving data privacy regulations may cause us to incur additional expenses, and any violation could result in damage to our reputation and/or subject us to fines, payment of damages, lawsuits and restrictions on our use of data.
We collect and process information relating to our employees, our customer operators, our customers’ end user players, and others for various business purposes, including payment processing, marketing and promotional purposes. The collection and use of personal data are governed by privacy laws and regulations enacted by the various U.S. states, and other jurisdictions around the world. Privacy laws and regulations continue to evolve and on occasion may be inconsistent between jurisdictions. Various federal, state and foreign legislative or regulatory bodies may enact or adopt new or additional laws and regulations concerning privacy, data retention, data transfer, and data protection. For example, the European Union has adopted a data protection regulation known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or “GDPR”, which became fully enforceable in May 2018, that includes operational and compliance requirements with significant penalties for non-compliance. In addition, California has enacted a new privacy law, known as the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which became effective in 2020 and provides some of the strongest privacy requirements in the United States.
Compliance with applicable privacy laws and regulations may increase our operating costs and/or adversely impact our ability to provide and market our products, properties and services. In addition, non-compliance with applicable privacy laws and regulations by us (or in some circumstances non-compliance by third parties engaged by us), including accidental loss, inadvertent disclosure, unapproved dissemination or a breach of security on systems storing our data may result in damage to our reputation and/or subject us to fines, payment of damages, lawsuits or restrictions on our use or transfer of data. We rely on proprietary and commercially available systems, software, and tools to provide security for processing of customer and employee information, such as payment card and other confidential or proprietary information. Our data security measures are reviewed and evaluated regularly; however, they might not protect us against increasingly sophisticated and aggressive threats including, but not limited to, computer malware, viruses, hacking and phishing attacks by third parties.
Any violation of the Bank Secrecy Act or other similar anti-money laundering laws and regulations could have a negative impact on us.
Our operations are subject to reporting and anti-money laundering (“AML”) regulations in various jurisdictions. In recent years, governmental authorities have been increasingly focused on AML policies and procedures, with a particular focus on the gaming industry. Any violation of AML laws or regulations could result in fines, administrative expenses, and have a negative effect on our business reputation, ability to secure and retain gaming licenses, and have a negative effect on our results of operations.
We have identified a material weakness in connection with our internal control over financial reporting which, if not remediated, could adversely affect our business, reputation and stock price.
As previously disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, material weaknesses were identified in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Company’s interim or annual consolidated financial statements will not prevented or detected on a timely basis.
During the year, the Company’s management implemented remediation plans to remove access and security admin (“super user”) rights to the financial reporting systems. However, the deficiency surrounding the controls related to the segregation of duties over journal entry preparation and approval within the B2C segment remained. While the Company continues to implement controls to remediate the material weakness, the material weakness has not been resolved as of December 31, 2024. We can give no assurances that these measures will remediate the remaining material weakness in internal controls, or that additional material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting will not be identified in the future. While the Company has actively begun to implement controls to remediate the material weakness, this material weakness has not been resolved as of December 31, 2023. We can give no assurance that these measures will remediate the remaining material weakness in internal control, or that additional material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting will not be identified in the future. Our failure to implement and maintain effective internal controls could result in errors in our financial statement that may lead to restatements of our financial statements or failure to meet reporting obligations. Our failure to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in errors in our financial statements that may lead to additional restatements of our financial statements or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. Any such failure could also lead to reputational damage and a decrease in the market price of our stock.
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Risks Related to our International Operations
We have business operations located in many countries and a significant level of operations outside of the U.S., which subjects us to additional costs and risks that could adversely affect our operating results.
A significant portion of our customer base and operations are located outside of the United States. Compliance with international and U.S. laws and regulations that apply to our international operations increases our cost of doing business. As a result of our international operations, we are subject to a variety of risks and challenges in managing an organization operating in various countries, including those related to:
● | challenges caused by distance as well as language and cultural differences; |
● | general economic conditions in each country or region; |
● | regulatory changes; |
● | political unrest, terrorism and the potential for other hostilities; |
● | public health risks, particularly in areas in which we have significant operations; |
● | longer payment cycles and difficulties in collecting accounts receivable; |
● | overlapping or changes in tax regimes; |
● | difficulties in transferring funds from certain countries; |
● | laws such as the U.K. Bribery Act 2010 and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and local laws which also prohibit corrupt payments to governmental officials; and |
● | reduced protection for intellectual property rights in some countries. |
If we are unable to effectively staff and manage our global operations, we may not realize, in whole or in part, the anticipated benefits from our international operations which in turn could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our results of operations may be adversely affected by fluctuations in foreign currency values.
As a result of our global operations, we generate a portion of our revenue and incur a portion of our expenses in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Our primary currency exposures are the British Pound, Euro, Bulgarian Lev, Israeli Shekel, Mexican Peso, Peruvian Sol, Chilean Peso, and Swedish Krona. Our primary currency exposures are the British Pound, Euro, Bulgarian Lev, Israeli Shekel, and Australian Dollar. For example, we have a significant amount of our Euro-denominated transactions associated with revenue, a devaluation of the Euro relative to the U.S. dollar would adversely affect our results of operations reported in the U.S. dollar. As our transactions in British Pounds are primarily expenses, a decline of the U.S. dollar relative to the British Pound would negatively impact our results of operations reported in the U.S. dollar. The financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of some of our operating entities are reported in currencies other than the U.S. dollar and then translated into U.S. dollars at the applicable exchange rate for inclusion in our consolidated financial statements. As a result, appreciation of the U.S. dollar against those other currencies generally will have a negative impact on our reported revenue and profits while depreciation of the U.S. dollar against other currencies will generally have positive effect on reported revenue and profits. Any significant decline in the value of these currencies as compared to the U.S. dollar would have a material adverse impact on our results of operations.
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The expansion of our business will subject us to taxation in a number of jurisdictions and changes in, or new interpretation of, tax laws, tax rulings or their application by tax authorities could result in additional tax liabilities and could materially affect our financial condition and results of operations.
We pay U.S. federal, state and international taxes due to our global operations and the locations in which we operate. We are subject to taxation in a number of international jurisdictions. The tax laws applicable to our business are myriad, and are subject to interpretation, and significant judgment is required in determining our provision for income taxes. In the course of our business, there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Consequently, our results may differ from previous estimates and may materially affect our consolidated financial statements.
The gaming industry represents a significant source of tax revenue to the jurisdictions in which we will operate. Gaming companies and B2B providers in the gaming industry (directly and/or indirectly by way of their commercial relationships with operators) are currently subject to significant taxes and fees in addition to normal corporate income taxes, and those taxes and fees are subject to increase at any time. In addition, any worsening of economic conditions and the large number of jurisdictions with significant current or projected budget deficits could intensify the efforts of governments to raise revenues through increases in gaming taxes and/or other taxes. It is not possible to determine with certainty the likelihood of changes in tax laws or in the administration or interpretation or enforcement of such laws. Any material increase, or the adoption of additional taxes or fees, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We are subject to periodic review and audit by U.S. and foreign tax authorities. Tax authorities may disagree with certain tax positions that we have taken or that we will take, and any adverse outcome of such a review or audit could have a negative effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Although we believe that our income tax provisions, positions and estimates are reasonable and appropriate, tax authorities may disagree with certain positions we have taken. In addition, economic and political pressures to increase tax revenue in various jurisdictions may make resolving tax disputes favorably more difficult.
U.S. Holders of our ordinary shares could be subject to material adverse tax consequences if we are considered a Passive Foreign Investment Company for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
There is a risk that we could be classified as a Passive Foreign Investment Company (“PFIC”), for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Our status as a PFIC could result in a reduction in the after-tax return to U.S. Holders of our ordinary shares and may cause a reduction in the value of our ordinary shares. A corporation is classified as a PFIC for any taxable year in which either (i) at least 75% of its gross income is “passive income” or (ii) at least 50% of the average quarterly value of all its assets consists of assets that produce, or are held for the production of, passive income. For this purpose, passive income generally includes among other things, dividends, interest, certain rents and royalties, annuities, certain gains from the sale of stock and securities, and certain gains from commodities transactions.
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Based on the projected composition of our income and valuation of our assets, we do not believe we would have been a PFIC in any previous taxable year, and we do not expect to become a PFIC in the foreseeable future, although there can be no assurance in this regard. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service or a U.S. court could determine that we are or were a PFIC in any past, current, or future taxable years. The determination of whether we are a PFIC is a fact-intensive determination made on an annual basis applying principles and methodologies, which in some circumstances are unclear and subject to varying interpretation. If we were classified as a PFIC, U.S. Holders of our ordinary shares could be subject to greater U.S. income tax liability than might otherwise apply, imposition of U.S. income tax in advance of when tax would otherwise apply and detailed tax filing requirements that would not otherwise apply. The PFIC rules are complex and a U.S. holder of our ordinary shares is urged to consult its tax advisors regarding the possible application of the PFIC rules.
Risks Related to Corporate Governance Matters
Ownership in our ordinary shares is restricted by gaming laws and our by-laws, and persons found “unsuitable” may be required to dispose of their shares.
Gaming authorities have the right to investigate any individual or entity having a relationship to, or involvement with, our Company or any of its subsidiaries, to determine whether such individual or entity is suitable as a business associate of ours. Many jurisdictions also require any person who acquires beneficial ownership of more than a certain percentage of voting securities of a gaming company and, in some jurisdictions, non-voting securities, sometimes 5%, to report the acquisition to the gaming authorities, and the gaming authorities may require such holders to apply for qualification or a finding of suitability, subject to limited exceptions for “institutional investors” that hold a company’s voting securities for investment purposes only. Subject to certain administrative proceeding requirements, gaming authorities have broad discretion to deny any application or limit, condition, restrict, revoke or suspend any license, registration, finding of suitability or approval, or fine any person licensed, registered or found suitable or approved, for any cause deemed reasonable by the gaming authorities.
Any person found unsuitable by a gaming authority may not hold directly or indirectly ownership of any voting security or the beneficial or record ownership of any nonvoting security or any debt security of any public corporation which is registered with the relevant gaming authority beyond the time prescribed by the relevant gaming authority. Our by-laws include certain provisions to ensure that we comply with applicable gaming laws. These provisions provide, among other things, that GAN Limited is prohibited from carrying on Gaming or Gaming Activities (as defined therein) itself and that our Board of Directors has the right to cause a forced sale of the ordinary shares held by an unsuitable person. Any such forced sale may negatively affect the trading price of our ordinary shares and may negatively affect the liquidity of our ordinary shares.
We are a Bermuda company and it may be difficult for you to enforce judgments against us or certain of our officers.
We are a Bermuda exempted company. As a result, the rights of holders of our ordinary shares will be governed by Bermuda law and our memorandum of association and by-laws. The rights of shareholders under Bermuda law may differ from the rights of shareholders of companies incorporated in other jurisdictions. Bermuda legislation regarding companies is largely based on English corporate law principles. However, there can be no assurance that Bermuda law will not change in the future or that it will serve to protect investors in a similar fashion afforded under corporate law principles in the United States, which could adversely affect the rights of investors. A substantial portion of our assets are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to enforce, in the United States, judgments obtained in U.S. courts against us based on the civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws. We have been advised by our special Bermuda counsel that uncertainty exists as to whether courts in Bermuda will enforce judgments obtained in other jurisdictions, including the United States, or entertain action in Bermuda against us or our directors or officers.
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Furthermore, we have been advised by our special Bermuda counsel that Bermuda courts will not recognize or give effect to U.S. federal securities laws that such Bermuda courts consider to be procedural in nature, are revenue or penal laws or the application of which would be inconsistent with public policy in Bermuda. Certain remedies available under the laws of U.S. jurisdictions, including certain remedies under U.S. federal securities laws, will not be recognized or given effect to in any action brought before a court of competent jurisdiction in Bermuda where the application of such remedies would be inconsistent with public policy in Bermuda. Further, no claim may be brought in Bermuda against us or our directors and officers in the first instance for violations of U.S. federal securities laws because those laws do not have the force of law in Bermuda. A Bermuda court may, however, impose civil liability on us or our directors and officers if the facts alleged in a complaint constitute or give rise to a cause of action under Bermuda law.
Shareholders of a Bermuda company may have a cause of action against us or our directors for breach of any duty in the by-laws or any shareholders’ agreement owed personally by us to the shareholder. Directors of a Bermuda company may be liable to the company for breach of their duties as directors to the company under the Bermuda Companies Act, and under common law. Such actions must, as a general rule, be brought by the company. Where the directors have carried on an act which is ultra vires or illegal, then the shareholder has the right, with leave of the court, to bring a derivative action to sue the directors on behalf of the company with any damages awarded going to the company itself. Shareholders are also able to take action against a company if the affairs of the company are being conducted in a manner which is oppressive or unfairly prejudicial to the shareholders or some number of them, and to seek either a winding-up order or an alternative remedy if a winding-up order would be unfairly prejudicial to them.
Our by-laws restrict shareholders from bringing legal action against our officers and directors.
Our by-laws contain a broad waiver by our shareholders of any claim or right of action, both individually and on our behalf, against any of our officers or directors. The waiver applies to any action taken by an officer or director, or the failure of an officer or director to take any action, in the performance of his or her duties, except with respect to any matter involving any fraud or dishonesty on the part of the officer or director or any claims of violations of the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 the waiver of which would be prohibited by Section 14 of the Securities Act and Section 29(a) of the Exchange Act. This waiver limits the right of shareholders to assert claims against our officers and directors unless the act or failure to act involves fraud or dishonesty.
We have provisions in our by-laws that may discourage a change of control.
Our by-laws contain provisions that could make it more difficult for a third-party to acquire us without the consent of our Board of Directors. These provisions include, among others:
● | restrictions on the time period in which directors may be nominated; |
● | the prohibition of cumulative voting in the election of directors; |
● | the requirement for shareholders wishing to propose a person for election as a director (other than persons proposed by our Board of Directors) to give advance written notice of nominations for the election of directors; and |
● | certain provisions to ensure that we comply with applicable gaming laws, which provide, among other things, that our Board of Directors has the right to cause a forced sale of the ordinary shares held by an “unsuitable” person (see the risk factor above entitled “Ownership in our ordinary shares is restricted by gaming laws and our by-laws, and persons found “unsuitable” may be required to dispose of their shares”). |
These provisions could make it more difficult for a third-party to acquire us, even if the third-party’s offer may be considered beneficial by many shareholders. As a result, shareholders may be limited in their ability to obtain a premium for their shares.
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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.
In the ordinary course of our business, we collect, process, store, and transmit players’ data, including confidential, sensitive, proprietary, and personal information. Maintaining the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our information technology systems and data, as well as appropriate limitations on access to such information, is important to our operations and business strategy. To this end, we have implemented various Information Security programs aligned to ISO and NIST cyber security frameworks with functions incorporating the “Identify”, “Protect”, “Detect”, “Respond”, and “Recover” concepts. They are designed to assess, identify, and manage risks from potential unauthorized occurrences on or through our information technology systems that may result in adverse effects on the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of these systems and the data residing in them.
The security program is managed and monitored by a dedicated Information Security team, which is led by our Vice President of Global Information Security, the Company’s designated Chief Information Security Officer (“CISO”), and includes mechanisms, controls, technologies, systems, policies and other processes designed to prevent, detect, respond, and recover from data loss, theft, misuse, or other security incidents or vulnerabilities affecting the systems and data residing in them. For example, we have adopted a risk-based approach to security which includes continuous risk assessments, vulnerability scans and periodic penetration and testing. We perform due diligence on our key technology vendors and other contractors and suppliers. We also conduct employee training on cyber and information security, among other topics. Our security program is subjected to independent external audits annually to evaluate the effectiveness of our security program and identify areas for continuous improvement.
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