26-09-2007 Betinternet looking to acquire another sportsbook operation

The Isle of Man-based betting firm showed an EBITDA profit for the year ended May 27 of £162k on group turnover of £87.1m, up from £67.6m in 2006, and said it continued to seek a strategic acquisition for its sportsbook operation as part of its strategy for growth. While the main regional focus of Betinternet remains in the Far East, the sportsbook and horseracing betting operator said to be keen to grow its presence in Europe.

For the 2006/7 financial year, sportsbook turnover rose to £62.4m (2006: £57.5m), with casino, games and Asian Handicap betting providing the majority of revenues.

Betinternet said to have benefited from the ownership of its own sportsbook website software and the addition of more sports betting content and fixed-odds games as well as from the improvment of its internal trading management system.

In the last two months of the financial year, Betinternet started offering betting on UK and Irish horseracing, with the full marketing launch planned for October 2007. The company said the expansion of the offering will have the advantage of spreading the business across sports other than soccer, which in the last financial year was responsible for three-quarters of the stake money placed on singles bets.

EWS, the group's pari-mutuel operation, continued to progress well through the period. Despite some aspects of the business were affected by the fall-out from the UIGEA, the pari-mutuel turnover generated from the telephone call centre, totalisator hub and linkbet.com grew by 148% to £24.8m.

Chairman Denham Eke commented: "Anyone involved in the gaming sector, whether as a shareholder or an employee, could not have anticipated the changes that have taken place over the course of the last year. It has been a difficult time for the sector, but the Company’s executive management team has steered a course through these challenges to bring the business to profitability at EBITDA level and create a stronger operation for the future."