LACKLUSTRE THIRD QUARTER FROM 888.COM


Online bingo the star of operations
 
Online gambling group 888.com unveiled its Q3/2010 and 2010 YTD numbers this week, showcasing a somewhat lack-lustre performance in which internet bingo appeared to offer the best bet.
 
Chief executive officer, Gigi Levy unveiled figures which showed:
 
– Group operating profit remained unchanged from last year at $ 61 million, including a 6 percent rise in B2C activities of $ 51 million.
 
– Online casinos revenues dropped 9 percent in Q3 2010 to $27 million (Q3/2009: $29 million).
 
– Online poker revenues dipped steeply by 34 percent to $ 8 Million (Q3/2009: $12 million).
 
– Online bingo proved the star with a 344 percent growth to $13 million over the quarter.
 
– The number of casino players in Q3 2010 grew by 8 percent to 73 000 over Q3 2009, but poker players declined by 5 percent to 115 000.
 
– Average spend per casino player was $ 362, and for poker players, $ 71 during the quarter.
 
 
Nine months to September 30 2010
 
– Total operating income across the group was up 7 percent at $191 million.
 
– Operating income B2B was up 6 percent at $29 million.
 
– Operating income on bingo activity turned in a good performance, growing by 356 percent to $36 million in the first 9 months of 2010.
 
– Operating income across the group B2C activities rose to $ 162 million over the nine months, or by 14 percent.
 
– As at September 30 2010 the group had 8.2 million players – an increase over YTD 2009 of 21 percent.
 
– Casino operations YTD brought in a 1 percent increase to revenues, reaching $ 86 million, whilst YTD poker operations showed a decline of 28 percent to $28 million.
 
As at September 30 2010 the group had $ 62 million available in cash and assets.
 
 
Operational Highlights
 
B2C
 
– Award of licence by Autorité de Régulation des Jeux En Ligne (ARJEL), the French Gaming regulator, to operate poker betting websites
 
– New Bingo B2C network launched in Sweden
 
– New Poker TV campaign launched in the UK showing strong new customer recruitment results
 
– Re-launch of £8,888,888 Pirates Millionaire free spin slot machine coupled with UK TV campaign
 
– Bingo TV campaign launched in the UK
 
 
 
B2B Division – Dragonfish reported the following achievements:
 
 – Free play World Series of Poker (WSOP) offering launched in the United States for Harrah's Interactive Entertainment (HIE), following the successful launch of a real money WSOP-branded site in the UK
 
– Agreement signed with Microgame for the provision of a comprehensive casino product to the Italian gaming market
 
– Joint liquidity poker network launched in France with Microgaming. The poker network now has three partners live, with a fourth to be added in coming weeks
 
– David Zerah appointed as Managing Director
 
 
Current Trading
 
Trading during October was stronger than the third quarter across all business lines. Average daily revenue increased by approximately 6%, led by poker showing a more than 16% increase. This revenue increase was driven by higher deposit levels and more active players, with a significant increase in new customer recruitment of over 20%.
 
This increase has been driven in part by the continued investment in 888's brands, with TV campaigns in Casino, Poker and Bingo in the UK.
 
Overall, current trading remains in line with the Board's expectations and the Board expects the trading performance for the current financial year to be in line with consensus forecasts.
 
 
Commenting on today's announcement, Gigi Levy, Chief Executive Officer, said:
 
 "We are pleased with the results achieved during the third quarter. Our business showed resilience during the historical seasonally weak summer period, with growth in Poker. The fourth quarter has started well and given that our various business initiatives are progressing as planned we expect to grow the business further during the year."