Playtech seeks court clarification in Caliplay dispute

Playtech is seeking a declaration from the English courts.

UK.- The gaming tech supplier Playtech has requested clarification from the English courts in its dispute regarding Caliplay, a joint venture with Mexico’s Caliente. The disagreement is about Caliplay’s right to use an option to redeem an additional services fee.

Playtech says the option was stated as exercisable for 45 days after the approval of the audited accounts of Caliplay for the year ended December 31, 2021. It says that as such the option has expired, something it referred to in its September 2022 interim report for the six months ending 30 June, 2022.

Caliplay has not sought to exercise the option but it does not consider the option to have expired. For the six months to June 30, the services fee totalled €34.4m.

Playtech said: “Caliplay is a highly valued customer and partner of Playtech and has been a highly successful and rapidly growing business. Playtech hopes to obtain clarification from the English courts and further updates will be provided, as required.”

Playtech had considered spinning off Caliplay through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger to take it public but dropped the plan last July due to market conditions. It said then that it was still intending to create a business aimed at Hispanic US customers under the Caliente brand.

In December, Playtech and Holland Casino announced a research project into responsible online gambling solutions. The Erasmus University Rotterdam and the University of Amsterdam will analyse data from Holland Casino’s online gaming offering, which uses Playtech’s platform.

“A Safe Bet: design and evaluation of a player-tailored online responsible gambling promotion framework” is a four-year project that aims to find solutions for how to tailor tools to players’ individual needs, risk levels and behaviour.