GiG signs agreement building on PlayStar Casino partnership for Pennsylvania expansion

Malta-based Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) has signed a long-term agreement with current partner PlayStar Casino, for the provision of its iGaming platform technologies to power the operator's expansion into the US state of Pennsylvania.

Building on a foundation of the companies' existing partnership, PlayStar Casino will use GiG to power its casino's second US market entry. The agreement is based on a revenue share model and has a minimum duration of four years.

It comes as the recent ongoing liberalisation of gambling laws in many US states has seen Pennsylvania become the nation's second-largest iGaming market in terms of revenue.

According to full-year revenue for 2020, released by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) and cited by GiG, gaming win from iGaming totalled $566 million (€478 million), reflecting the state's potential as a "pivotal" iGaming market.

Along with its expansion into Pennsylvania, PlayStar Casino has also recently expanded its management team with the addition of Per Hellberg (previously CEO of Catena Media, Readly and Nordic Gaming Group) as CEO, and Dan Alexander (previously of Bet365 and Mansion Group) as COO.

The company aims to provide an online casino experience, "like no other" to players in regulated US states, which it wants to achieve through personalisation, engagement and exemplary customer service that "makes players feel like they are the star of the show".

Mr Hellberg welcomed the deal with GiG, stating: "We are delighted to be partnering with GiG to power PLayStar's expansion into Pennsylvania. With our preparations firmly underway for our New Jersey launch with GiG, it was a natural progression to leverage that work and replicate our casino offering over the border in Pennsylvania.

"This will mark the second market entrance for PlayStar in the USA with GiG and we're looking forward to launching a casino experience like no other".

Similarly, Richard Brown, CEO of GiG celebrated: "We're very excited to continue our expansion into the third US state, in particular Pennsylvania that has shown a tremendous amount of growth int the iGaming market in a relatively short time period.

"We also believe the plans that PlayStar have with the customer centric and product driven approach connect very well with GiG's B2B offering and strategy and we look forward to helping them achieve their ambitions".