Speaking at the company’s interim results, Bwin Co-Chief Executive Norbert Teufelberger confirmed the company’s belief that the suspension of BWin\’s German betting license will be revoked in the near future. Teufelberger said he expects a decision from the European Commission related to the suspension in autumn. He also added that the firm, which recently entered the Mexican market, had to postpone the introduction of a sports betting product aimed at the US market following the indictment of BetonSports.
In the second quarter of 2006, the Austrian sportsbook reported a record sports betting turnover of EUR 541 million, up 97 per cent over the same period in 2005, and a sports betting margin of 7.7 per cent, short of the communicated target of 8 to 10 per cent, after that many matches in the knock-out rounds of the Soccer World Cup were won by favourites.
BWin generated gross gaming revenues (sum of gross gaming revenues from betting operations, poker, casino and games) of EUR 94.3 million, up 162% from Q2 2005. Of this amount, gross gaming revenues from sports betting operations amounted to EUR 41.6 million, up 65 per cent, while casino operations generated revenues of EUR 19.7 million, up 153 per cent, and poker operations produced gross gaming revenues in the amount of EUR 29.4 million, up 1,387 per cent. Games generated revenues of EUR 3.5 million, up 228 per cent.
The number of active customers in the second quarter of 2006 totalled 1,117,000, of whom 471,000 became active for the first time (Q2 2005: 297,000 active and 123,000 new active customers). Thanks to an extensive marketing campaign in the lead-up to and during the Soccer World Cup, there was a significant increase in the number of active sports betting customers in Q2 2006 compared to Q2 2005: at 904,000 this indicator was up 607,000. The number of active sports betting customers per day rose to an average of 113,000 in Q2 2006 against an average of 44,600 in the same period the previous year.
The cost per new active customer (including bonuses) remained steady at EUR 155 (Q2 2005: EUR 145).
In the second quarter 2006, BWin reported a loss after tax of EUR 28.6 million, partly attributable to depreciation following acquisition of Ongame.
For the first half of 2006, the Austrian bookmaker increased its gross gaming revenues to EUR 191.6 million, up 216 per cent compared to the same period the previous year. Of this amount, gross gaming revenues from sports betting operations amounted to EUR 80.8 million, up 92 per cent. The gross gaming revenues generated by the casino, poker and games sectors amounted respectively to EUR 41.2 million (up 198 per cent), EUR 63.0 million (up 1,920 per cent) and EUR 6.5 million (up 257 per cent).
The gross winnings margin in the sports betting sector for the first half of 2006 was stable at 8.4 per cent (H1 2005: 8.9%).
Nearly 1.5 million customers were active in the first half year (H1 2005: 376,000 customers, up 289 per cent). This included around 770,000 customers who became active for the first time (H1 2005: 227,000 customers, up 237 per cent). The number of active sports betting customers totalled 1,091,000, up by 190 per cent compared to the previous year. The number of new active sports betting customers grew to 632,000 in the first half of 2006, an increase of 178 per cent compared to the same period the previous year.
For the first half of 2006, BWin reported a loss before tax of EUR 3.8 million against a profit of EUR 4.6 million for the same period in 2005. Although Ongame\’s contribution to EBITDA was positive, it was nevertheless lower than anticipated. The consolidated loss after taxes for the first half of 2006 was EUR 27.1 million (H1 2005: EUR 0.1 million).
Following a disappointing Soccer World Cup, an Ongame\’s performance well below budget and in light of the uncertain future of the legal situation of the online gaming industry in the USA and various other countries, BWin had to revise its expectations of growth for 2006 and is now aiming at full-year gross gaming revenues of EUR 435 million with earnings of at least EUR 40 million.
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