Gaming regulators license sports betting company providing tech for Station Casinos
Nevada gaming regulators approved a two-year license Thursday for California-based sports betting technology provider GAN Ltd., but the company’s equipment won’t be reviewed by the Gaming Control Board testing lab until next month.
GAN, which provides sports betting technology to the Island View Casino in Gulfport, Mississippi, and Wynn Resort’s Encore Boston Harbor in Massachusetts, is expected to provide a similar product that will replace the troubled sports betting platform currently in place in Red Rock Resorts’ Southern Nevada sportsbooks.
GAN Senior Vice President of Compliance Tina Robinson told the Nevada Gaming Commission the company expects final approval from Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) by Nov. 3 and the equipment will then be submitted to the board’s technology division.
“We are in the final phase,” Robinson said.
Red Rock, through its Station Casinos subsidiary, agreed to pay an $80,000 fine to state gaming regulators in June 2022 to settle a two-count complaint alleging serious glitches in the company’s sports wagering system at Red Rock Resort that caused the company to accept approximately 348 wagers on events with already known outcomes, often referred to as “past-posting.” The company said at the time that customers and the state weren’t financially affected by the issues.
GAN announced an agreement in October 2021 to build out the sports betting infrastructure for Station Casinos’ retail sportsbooks, betting kiosks and Station’s mobile app, called STN.
Thursday’s hearing in Las Vegas took roughly 30 minutes compared with the nearly 90-minute-long hearing with the Control Board on Oct. 4. That hearing took place less than a week after GAN announced the departure of longtime CEO Dermot Smurfit, who spent a decade with the company.
He was replaced by Seamus McGill, the company’s chairman. McGill told the commission he was resigning as chairman “in the next couple of weeks” and would file for licensure as CEO.
The board conditioned the license so that McGill couldn’t hold both positions.
Commission member Ogonna Brown disclosed that Smurfit was removed as CEO after an investigation into the “non-disclosure of certain assets and sexual harassment allegations.”
The company was aware of the allegations and reported them to the Control Board.
Sylvia Tiscareño, GAN’s chief legal officer, told the commission the “exhaustive regulatory investigative process” helped discover some of the issues with the company’s former CEO. She said pre-employment background checks not would have revealed any concerns.
McGill told the Control Board at the Oct. 4 hearing that GAN hoped to provide the sports betting technology to Wynn’s Strip operations following approval by Nevada.
GAN, which launched in Europe, has a U.S. headquarters in Irvine, California, and an office in Las Vegas. GAN is licensed globally across 25 countries, states and tribal governments. The company employs 700 people worldwide.
Updated at 4:21 p.m. on 10/19/2023 to clarify comments on allegations raised against the former CEO.