Nektan
Nektan was a Gibraltar-based, London-listed casino technology firm that supplied white-label gaming sites rather than running a brand of its own. That business no longer trades. Nektan (Gibraltar) Limited went into administration in January 2020, its UK-facing casino brands were sold to Grace Media, its business-to-business platform was sold on and rebranded as Markor Technology, and the UK Gambling Commission suspended its operating licence in April 2021. This page sets out what Nektan actually was, where its assets ended up, and why any casino still described as “Nektan powered” needs a second look.
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What Nektan was
Nektan began trading in May 2011, set up by Gary Shaw, who had earlier built the bingo network St Minver before it was sold to GTECH. The idea was mobile first: a ready-made casino a partner could put its own name and design on, without building the payments, back office and games integration itself. Nektan became a plc and floated on London’s AIM market in late 2014, raising about 4.1 million pounds on its first day of dealings under the ticker NKTN and carrying a valuation north of 50 million pounds.
Nektan did not make slot machines. Its own product was the plumbing behind the site: a platform its operators branded, plus a content aggregator called E-Lite that pulled games from outside studios into a single lobby. A partner that signed with Nektan got titles from suppliers such as NetEnt and Microgaming, and live tables from Evolution, all delivered through Nektan’s framework instead of through separate deals the operator had to strike alone.
How its casinos worked for players
Because so many sites shared the same underlying build, Nektan casinos tended to look and behave alike: the same lobby, the same cashier, the same account screens under different logos. For a player that meant a familiar site whichever brand you landed on, and games that ran cleanly on a phone at a point when plenty of casinos were still designed for a desktop. Deposits and withdrawals used the usual UK methods of the day, from cards and e-wallets to bank services such as Trustly. The trade-off was that one Nektan brand had little to set it apart from the next, since the engine underneath was shared.
The 2019 to 2020 collapse
Nektan’s problems surfaced through its accounts. The company reported losses of around 9 million pounds for the year to June 2019, its chief executive Lucy Buckley left that August, and it then failed to file its results for the period ending December 2019. Missing the AIM rule that requires audited accounts on time, Nektan was delisted from the market in early 2020. Administrators were appointed to Nektan (Gibraltar) Limited in January 2020, and after a fresh attempt to raise money fell through, the group moved to reappoint administrators that April.
Who holds the pieces now
The business was broken up and sold. The UK consumer arm, meaning the casino brands themselves, went to Grace Media, part of the ActiveWin group, for a total of 200,000 pounds. The business-to-business side, including the E-Lite aggregation platform, was bought by Real Time Strategic Marketing Limited and now trades as Markor Technology, which is still operating. The regulatory chapter closed on 27 April 2021, when the UK Gambling Commission suspended Nektan (Gibraltar) Limited’s operating licence during a review of whether the operator was suitable to hold one.
If you see a Nektan casino today
Treat “Nektan casino” as a note about a site’s history, not about who runs it now. Where the old brands survive, they sit under new ownership and may run on different software, and some closed during the wind-down. When we assess a provider we start from what the company actually is today and who holds its licences, not from a supplier name that has since changed hands. Before depositing at any site linked to Nektan, read the licence and operator named in its own footer and confirm that entity is licensed at the time you play. The casinos listed below are matched to Nektan’s software history, so apply that same check to each one.
Is Nektan still in business?
No. Nektan (Gibraltar) Limited went into administration in January 2020 after being delisted from London's AIM market for failing to file its accounts on time. The group tried and failed to raise fresh funding and reappointed administrators that April. Its assets were then broken up and sold, and the UK Gambling Commission suspended its operating licence on 27 April 2021. The company that ran the Nektan platform no longer trades.
Who owns Nektan's casinos now?
The UK consumer-facing casino brands were bought by Grace Media, part of the ActiveWin group, for a total of 200,000 pounds in early 2020. The business-to-business side, including Nektan's E-Lite content aggregation platform, was acquired by Real Time Strategic Marketing Limited and now trades as Markor Technology. Some of the old brands migrated to new ownership and software, and others closed during the wind-down.
Did Nektan make its own casino games?
No. Nektan was a white-label platform and content aggregator rather than a game studio. Operators used its framework to launch a branded casino quickly, and its E-Lite system pulled in games from outside suppliers such as NetEnt, Microgaming and Evolution. So a Nektan casino ran other studios' titles on Nektan's technology, not games Nektan designed itself.
Why was Nektan's UK licence suspended?
On 27 April 2021 the UK Gambling Commission suspended the operating licence held by Nektan (Gibraltar) Limited while it reviewed whether the operator was suitable to continue holding one. The suspension came after the company had already entered administration and its trading business had been sold off, so it effectively confirmed that the original Nektan operation would not resume.
Was Nektan a real listed company?
Yes. Nektan became a public limited company and floated on London's Alternative Investment Market in late 2014 under the ticker NKTN, raising about 4.1 million pounds on its first day of dealings and valued at more than 50 million pounds. It was delisted in early 2020 after breaching the AIM rule requiring audited accounts to be filed on time.
