The gaming software provider Playtech it to announce 10 new licenses in 2011 and a significant part of growth as a result of partnerships with local operators and former monopolies in recently regulated markets the chief executive claims.

Mor Weizer added that the most of the licenses would be in the poker industry but some would be in casino and bingo as the new markets which include Italy and France mature.

“I believe there are some good opportunities for local operators, therefore [there] will be a big appetite for local companies in the French market that will then become part of the poker and sports market in there. We will see more local companies becoming involved and Playtech will get involved on the back of that. This is all incremental revenues for us given the fact we had to close it down ahead of regulation,” he added.

“We will be looking at developing quality rather than quantity but with France looking to broaden its offering, Italy launching casino games and cash poker early next year and a deal signed with Finnish monopoly provider RAY – that is the sole provider of online gaming there – due to launch we are very confident growth will continue. Finland may be an 11th the size of the UK but it has 19,000 land-based slot machines compared to the UK’s 37,000 catering for a population of 60m people.”

Gross income for the company in the quarter was up 30% to €41.3m compared to €31.9m in the third quarter last year with total revenues were up 17% to €32.5m from €27.7m. For the nine months to 30 September this year, gross income was up 31% to €129.2m from €98.8m and total revenues up 25% to €105.4m, from €84.4m.

Weizer added that the daily activity in October rose more than 7% compared to its average in the seasonally weak third quarter. This was similar to the results released by 888 showing a massive increase in the poker operations over the third quarter. “We indicated that current trading in the first 31 days of the fourth quarter is more than 25% ahead of the fourth quarter of last year and 7% quarter on quarter. These are strong numbers.”

Revenues from poker operations saw a decline of 30% from €8.2m to €5.7m which is 21% less than the second quarter this year, however Weizer claimed poker activity in September and October had since an increase. “The third quarter was initially impacted by the World Cup. Taking a medium to longer-term view we see some good prospects in poker on the back of regulation in various countries.

“Our licensees are growing, Italy is growing fast, France is building up we’ve just established ourselves with one licence that’s gone live, we have three more soon to be launched with well established casino groups to be launched in the fourth quarter and other waiting for regulatory approval. Then we have Serbia and Finland. The UK and Italy are our biggest regulated markets.”

“In Italy we have seen accelerated growth in the last two years, we are the largest software provider there and have 16% market share. They introduced bingo earlier this year and we established ourselves as market leader with a 25% market share. This is only on the back of three licences that launched recently and we have one more licence to launch later this month so Italy will increasingly become a very important market for us on the back of bingo, and casino games and cash poker will be introduced in early 2011. We are very confident this will happen,” Weizer added.

“The majority of our revenue is now generated from regulated markets. It’s building up on the back of activity in the UK, Italy and Finland, which is looking at regulating soon.”

Revenues from casino operations went from €18.5m to €21.7m (up 17%), but were down 13% on the second quarter this year. Bingo revenues which came to €3.1m, were also up 11% on the second quarter in 2010, which benefited from strong growth from Virtue Fusion, and the new Italian bingo network.

Playtech said EBITDA for the nine months to 30 September this year is expected “to be not less than €77.7m”.