The interactive betting arm of Rank Group announced gross win was up 50 per cent to £18.6m and operating profit leaped to £3.1m from £0.3m in the same period in 2005. Active customers increased by 12.5% to 261,000.
Revenue from sportsbook operations was up by 25.4%, with improved risk management systems helping to drive a stronger win margin. Blue Square continues to innovate in sports betting and in May launched Blue Square Prices on horse racing, becoming the UK\’s first on-line bookmaker to offer an alternative to the industry\’s standard Show Prices.
Gaming now accounts for around 55 per cent of Blue Square\’s revenue and Rank has initiated the process of integration of Blue Square into the group\’s gaming division, which already includes Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casinos.
Chief Executive Ian Burke explained the integration will create a single centre for technology development and management for all the group\’s gaming businesses, which will allow to maximise the synergies between the online and retail gaming operations. An online version of Grosvenor Casino will be launched in the second half of the year.
Overall, the gaming division reported revenues of £277.3m and an operating profit of £46.5m, while the total revenue of the Rank Group for the six months ended 30 June 2006 was £426m and the operating profit was £58.0m.
In separate news, Gary Speakman, Sportech’s COO, has resigned and will leave the company on September 29.
UPDATE: Rank Group will cut 200 jobs at Mecca bingo halls and close its London headquarters, where 40 more workers will lose their jobs, as the company plans to save a total of 16 million pounds a year. Chief Executive Ian Burke said the company conducted a research indicating that a smoking ban starting next year in England may have a similar effect to that in Scotland, where sales have dropped 14 per cent since the ban began. Rank also said it\’s examining ways of exiting its U.S. holidays unit.
Calculators
