The COVID-19 crisis has paralyzed the world. Businesses are closed, sporting events are cancelled and people across the planet are being ordered to stay at home to thwart the spread of the novel coronavirus. While the shutdown is crippling some businesses, others are thriving. Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), for example, added millions of subscribers as people are stuck in front of their TVs and devices for entertainment.
There is one industry that is outstripping all others when it comes to flourishing in this quarantine climate: online gambling, and it is giving shares of Golden Matrix Group (OTCPK: GMGI) a nice lift as more operators license the company’s technology.
A recent survey in Australia provided some color as to how people are spending their time on lock-down. It’s not at gym and fitness centers; consumption there is down 95% on a weekly basis. Online retail and subscription services are doing well, with consumption up 61%, but online gambling takes the top billing with a gain of 67%.
Online gambling has got a boost the world over as regular gamblers get their fix and newcomers give it a go to fill the hours of boredom. According to Israel-based Optimove, it has seen a 43% jump in online poker games and an increase of a whopping 225% in people who have played online poker for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The reason is quite simple. With no live sports to bet on or casinos to patron, bookmakers and gaming companies have quickly pivoted to beef-up virtual games to generate revenue. That plays right into the hands of Golden Matrix, which develops and owns online gaming intellectual property and builds configurable and scalable white-label social gaming platforms for its international customers, primarily in Asia Pacific.
The gaming IP includes state-of-the-art configurable and scalable gaming platforms, incorporating turnkey solutions that deliver the world’s best gaming content as well as unique tried-and-tested tools for marketing, acquisition, retention and monetization of users. The company’s platform can be accessed through both desktop and mobile applications.
Even before the COVID-19 crisis, Golden Matrix was growing at a solid pace, growing revenue about 154% in two years to nearly $900,000 a quarter. Across that same time frame, the Las Vegas-based company has swung from a net loss to a net profit of $439,000 in the most recent quarter.
Gaming operators are lining up to license Golden Matrix’s flagship GM-X gaming platform. Two dozen new gaming operators became clients in March, with the company forecasting another 40 to license GM-X by the end of April.
Currently, Golden Matrix has over 320 gaming operator clients and more than two million registered end-users worldwide.
Shares of this little-known company were trading around $0.003 in mid-March, but have taken an upward path in recent weeks, particularly late last week and early this week.
GMGI stock opened Monday 4/20 at $0.0043 and through Monday 4/27 reached a high of $0.0128, up 197.7% in one week, also marking the highest closing price since January 2017 when the stock first started trading. As for the daily trades, 4/20 registered 14 in the entire day while 1,419 trades occurred on 4/27. It seems that this little-known company is starting to finally get recognized.
Technically speaking, GMGI has been in a strong uptrend since April 2018, climbing steadily until flatting after making a 52-week high at $0.0073 in August. After a period of consolidation where the stock has held in a channel between $0.0035 – $0.005, last week represented a breakout move that challenged / exceeded the 52-week high.
With volume continuing to ramp higher, and the fundamentals continuing to shine, it’s fair to say that investor interest in this name will continue to stay strong in the short and medium term.