The online poker giant published its much anticipated fourth quarter key performance indicators, revealing that it signed up 229,277 new poker players, 32 per cent of them from outside the US, and that group revenues were up 65% to $320.3m.
In particular, poker revenues (excluding skins) were up by 31% compared with the previous year to $233.7m and up by 17% compared with the third quarter. In line with seasonal trends, yield per active player day increased to $17.9 versus $16.6 in the third quarter. Average daily revenue in the period increased to $2.5m from $1.9m a year earlier.
Net casino revenues were $82.3m, substantially ahead of the $11.0m achieved in the previous quarter. While the number of sign-ups was consistent with previous quarters, the substantial improvement in performance of the casino business was the result of cross-selling blackjack, through the PartyPoker.com site, from October 2005. Yield per active player day was down to $34.3 versus $59.2 in the previous quarter, primarily driven by the lower average spend by players playing blackjack. Driven by the strong performance of blackjack, daily net casino revenue reached an average of $0.9m per day compared with an average in the previous year of $0.1m.
Despite trading has remained strong with the start of the new financial year, PartyGaming warned that the legal proceedings commenced by Empire Online in November 2005 when it sued the company for breach of contract, following PartyGaming\’s decision to separate its own poker players from those of its \’skins\’, are likely to be protracted and involve claims for substantial damages. Whilst an amicable resolution to this dispute would be preferable, PartyGaming will vigorously defend the proceedings. Although there is some uncertainty with any litigation, PartyGaming is confident of achieving a successful outcome.
“The success of blackjack has transformed our casino business and proved very popular with a large number of our poker players. Our scale has again proved commercially important. Through effective cross-selling to our large customer base we are well on the way to creating the world’s largest online casino,” said Chief Executive Richard Segal.
“PartyGaming’s next major milestone will be the launch of the fully-integrated platform and shared purse in the first half of 2006. We will also launch two new games, one in the first half and another in the second half of 2006. By the end of 2006, we will up the ante again by launching a multi-lingual and multi-currency offering. Marketing a wide range of quality games to an increasingly international customer base is a core part of our strategy that we believe will deliver attractive returns for our shareholders,” added Segal.
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