September 30, 2008 (InfoPowa News) — U.K. interactive television, Internet, and mobile gambling group NetPlay TV showcased strong first half 2008 results this week, revealing that gross bets soared 308 percent to GBP 159 million (H1:2007 GBP 39 million). The rise was fuelled by a number of acquisitions made by the company up to the end of June.
The company announced an EBITDA of GBP 1 million, a significant improvement on last year's loss in the same period of GBP 900,000.
Operational highlights during the period included the acquisition of online bingo operator Bingos.com for GBP 6.5 million in April, which is in the process of being integrated into a multi-currency, multi-language technical platform that will allow NetPlay to add games easily to its offering and for its customers to move between the mobile, internet and TV platforms.
The company acquired an additional 7,600 mobile quiz subscribers from mobile content provider Rubberduck in March, Sky Channel 848 (now Sky Channel 867) and the customer database of PitchGaming customer database in May, and added web games to LiveRoulette.com in July.
NetPlay signed a 12-month contract with Turner Media Group in May to broadcast its live roulette show on Nuts TV every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on both Freeview and Sky as its contract with Virgin Media came to an end in June. The company is currently in negotiations with a number of broadcasters with a view to extending its TV offering.
Martin Higginson, the executive chairman of the company, said that 2008 had thus far been a positive year for the company. "In H1 we generated a profit before tax and, with the acquisition of the Bingos.com business, we have further strengthened our position as the market leader in the converged multi-platform gaming arena. We continue to invest in the business as we strive to deliver the very best player experience," he said.