Strong Performance from Bwin

February 9, 2009 (InfoPowa News) — The giant Vienna-listed online gambling group Bwin has turned in a creditable full year and even final quarter performance despite the challenging economic times, recording record gross gaming revenues of €420.9 million, a 19 percent increase over 2007's €353.1 million.
 
Performance in the final quarter also defied the troubled economic times, with gross gaming revenues growing 15 percent to €117.7 million, up from the €102.2 million achieved over the same period in 2007.
 
The star performer for Bwin was once again its sportsbetting operations, where a record rise in gross revenue of 21.1 percent over the year saw it reach €235.4 million (2007: €194.3 million) delivering a sports betting margin of 8 percent. Running counter to the lower trend in other companies, Bwin's poker revenue also rose 14.2 percent over the year to reach €94.2 million (2007: €82.5 million), while online casino revenue grew 4.3 percent to €94.2 million (2007: €82.5 million).
 
Other key performance indictaors in the report were:
 
Highlights for Q4 2008:
 
* Record gross gaming revenues: up 15.1 percent to €117.7 million (Q4 2007: €102.2 million)
 
* Record sports betting gross gaming revenue: up 8.5 percent to €64.5 million (Q4 2007: €59.5 million); sports betting margin of 8.1 percent
 
* Poker revenue: up 27.1 percent to €27.7 million (Q4 2007: €21.8 million)
 
* Casino revenue: up 19.5 percent to €19.3 million (Q4 2007: €16.1 million)
 
* Record games revenue: up 27.9 percent to €6.2 million (Q4 2007: €4.8 million)
 
* 1.2 million active and 323,000 new active real-money customers (Q4 2007: 900,000 active and 234,000 new active real-money customers)
 
Highlights for financial year 2008 (pro forma consolidated)
 
* Gross gaming revenues of €420.9 million: up 19.0 percent (FY 2007: €353.5 million)
 
* Record sports betting gross gaming revenue: up 21.1 percent to €235.4 million (FY 2007: €194.3 million); sports betting margin of 8.0 percent
 
* Poker revenue: up 14.2 percent to €94.2 million (FY 2007: €82.5 million)
 
* Casino revenue: up 14.3 percent to €70.0 million (FY 2007: €61.2 million)
 
* Games revenue: up 37.3 percent to €21.3 million (FY 2007: €15.5 million)
 
* 2.1 million active and 1.1 million new active real-money customers (FY 2007: 1.7 million active and 804,000 new active real-money customers)