LONDON (Alliance News) - Sportech PLC said Wednesday its loss for the first half of the year widened and the company continues to focus on becoming a licensed operator in the US state of Connecticut following changes in betting legislation.
For the six months to June 30, the betting technology business posted a pretax loss of GBP602,000 compared with a GBP320,000 pretax loss recorded a year prior. Revenue dipped to GBP31.6 million from GBP33.5 million a year ago.
First half operating loss totaled GBP655,000, compared with an operating profit of GBP708,000.
The widened loss and revenue drop was attributed to absence of gains for currency movements. In the first half of 2017, the company recorded GBP2.3 million gains from exchange rate movements.
The company said it is working "proactively" with constituencies in Connecticut to secure the right to conduct sports betting an become a licensed operator in the state.
"The May 2018 US Supreme Court decision that effectively permitted US states to enact legislation to license and regulate sports betting was very exciting for Sportech," Chief Executive Officer Andrew Gaughan said.
He added: "In Connecticut, we believe that we will have a strong direct-to-consumer sports betting offering for our brick-and-mortar and web mobile betting services. We also believe that we are very well positioned to offer a competitive integrated sports and race betting solution in other US states."
Looking ahead, Sportech said it expects further improvements in its Venues unit after adding food and beverages. Meanwhile, one-time sales revenues are expected to be "lower" as the Racing & Digital market in the US shifts from one-time sales contracts to long-term service-based contracts.
Sportech shares were trading down 3.8% at 66.21 pence each.