European sports betting and poker giant Bwin this morning published its preliminary fourth quarter and full-year results and said it had experienced the strongest organic growth across the European industry over the 12-month period to the end of December 2007 and had enjoyed record gross and net gaming revenues during the fourth quarter of 2007, as well as achieving revenues higher than those achieved before the company’s exit from the US and Turkish markets.
Quarterly gross gaming revenues for 2007 increased 24.9% to €102.3m, compared with €81.9m over the same period in 2006. Gross quarterly sports betting revenues were up 30.2% to €59.5m on 2006’s €45.7m, and the company enjoyed quarterly margins of 9.6%. Net gaming revenues were up a record 28.3% to €89.4m, compared with €69.7m in 2006. The number of active customers for the quarter dropped to 894,369, from 916,104 over the same period in 2006.
Gross gaming revenues for the year were up 21.4% to €350.5m, compared with €288.6m. Sports betting gross revenues were up 19% to €191.9m, from €161.2m on 2006, annual margins were 8.7%. Poker revenues for the year were up 38.6% to €82.3m, from €59.4m during the whole of 2006. Net gaming revenues for the year were up 25.9% to €309.7m, compared with €246m in 2006. The number of active customers for the year also dropped, to 1,659,819, from 2,162,250 over the same period in 2006.
The company said current trading in early 2008 meant it expected another record quarter, with gross gaming revenues up 4.7% on the previous quarter so far.
Bwin said the record gross gaming revenues it had enjoyed were down to the strong performance of its core sports betting and poker products, which it said justified its “strategy of investing in proprietary poker and sports betting platforms to safeguard future earning potential, and of cautious regional diversification”.
Bwin shares were up 4.9%, €0.9 to €19 in early trade on the Vienna stock exchange.