Paddy Power is reporting record profits for 2014, a year company officials describe as having, “more ups and downs than Taylor Swift’s love life.”
Earlier this week, the Ireland-based bookmaker reported that group revenue from 2014 was up 18% from the previous year while pre-tax revenue was up a whopping 21%, according to a report from the Telegraph.
All that good news was even better for Paddy Power shareholders, who will be seeing a nice dividend this year. The company will be handing back €392 million ($436 million USD) to its investors as a result of the banner year.
Paddy Power’s positive growth comes despite a year that was packed with revenue roadblocks, especially on the sports wagering side of the business.
The company took a beating after an improbable run by football favorites left UK punters cashing in big on accumulators. That episode taught Paddy Power CEO Andy McCue a hard lesson about sports wagering:
We also learnt that not only can lightning strike in the same place twice, it can in fact strike three times, as it did in weeks, two, 12, and 52, when practically every favourite in the main football leagues won.
Fortunately for Paddy Power, those gambling-made Australians were there to save the day. Down Under punters boosted profits from that division 32% of the total. That’s up 8% from the previous year. At the heart of that business was a thriving, telephone-base in-play wagering division which saw revenue jump an amazing 39%.
Paddy Power is also riding high on its efforts to boost mobile wagering, which are clearly paying off. During the month of December, a full 77% of the company’s players placed a wager on a mobile device.
With its aggressive, and sometimes controversial, marketing techniques clearly paying off, Paddy Power is clearly an emerging force in the international igaming industry.