Products
Casino and Poker
The online market was impacted in the early part of the year by reduced levels of spend across the board in response to economic uncertainty. We worked closely with our licensees to help them best attract and retain players, through the features available to them within the IMS. A new bonus system gave operators greater ability to personalise player incentives and maximise player activity. Through such efforts, our licensees showed great resilience in 2009 and this ultimately delivered relatively stable like-for-like revenues for the year.

Our main revenue line and our flagship product, remains our casino product. In total we launched 90 new game variations across flash and download in 2009 including a new multi-player range of games, which commenced with a multi-player version of European Roulette. These were supported by four releases of the casino platform which incorporated a range of new operator features. Revenue growth was principally driven by new casino licensees including William Hill and Betfair, whose casino platforms became operational in the second half of the year.

In addition, to complement the main casino product, we launched a range of branded games which have proved extremely popular both online and in server-based format, and have attracted new players. Further branded slots such as Pink Panther and Rocky from MGM are planned for 2010.

We further expanded our offering this year with a new European Live Dealers capability which provides state-of-the-art software and a product that caters specifically to the tastes of European players. It has enjoyed a growing following over the year.

Poker revenue growth in 2009 was driven largely by the success of our Italian poker network, which includes top regional operators such as Snai S.p.A, Sisal S.p.A, Eurobet Italia, Cogetech S.p.A and Gamenet, and has exceeded expectations. The network has a 16% market share in what is a rapidly growing market.

Playtech is committed to continually innovating and developing its poker offering, so that our operators have all the tools they need in order to remain at the cutting edge of the poker industry. At the end of 2009 we introduced material enhancements to the look and feel of the player lobby and a multi-currency capability to our poker software which has strengthened its appeal to players and operators alike. We continually look to improve network management and analysis tools, as brands focus their budgets on effective marketing.