Playtech scares off the punters with 10% dive as it pays price for a disastrous deal with News UK

FEW City punters were ready to take a bet on gaming software firm Playtech today as it paid the price for headwinds such as an Asian gambling crackdown and a disastrous bingo deal with News UK.

Playtech, founded by Israeli tycoon Teddy Sagi, is behind the tech used by most of the UK’s biggest gambling firms.

But the shares dived 10%, or 82.2p, to 692.2p, as the firm admitted revenues this year were off 11%, mainly driven by efforts by the Malaysian government to stop its people going online to gamble. Another issue is a long-term contract to power News UK’s Sun Bingo website, under which it guaranteed minimum payments to the publisher.

But revenues have fallen well short, leaving Playtech nursing €28 million (£25 million) in losses so far.

Chief executive Mor Weizer expects losses to ease and stressed “people should follow the fundamentals” of the company but the markets reacted to the slower growth despite a 10% divi hike.

Revenues were up 14% to €807.1 million but underlying profits grew half as fast, up 7% to €322.1 million.