Bet-at-home posts rise in revenues
Operator returns to profit after posting net loss of 3.3m in half-year results.
A significant increase in betting and gaming turnover saw Betclic Everest subsidiary bet-at-home post an 11.3% rise in third-quarter gross gaming revenue (GGR), the company has announced in its figures for the three months ended 30 September.
The 8.7% boost in revenues amounted to 460.16m in the quarter, up from 423.25m in the same period last year, and sees the operator return to profit after a disappointing net loss in its half-year results. Group EBITDA for the period increased by 12% to 1.03m compared to the third quarter of 2011.
Meanwhile the company, one of 12 to have received a sports betting licence in Schleswig-Holstein, also posted improved net gaming revenue in the quarter, rising to 16.88m compared to 16.43m in Q3 last year, despite the introduction of a sports betting tax in Germany on 1 July 2012.
Since then its German licence has come under threat after Schleswig-Holstein announced its intention to abolish its existing egaming legislation in favour of Germany’s controversial state treaty.
The results are the first since co-founder and joint managing director Jochen Dickinger announced plans to step down for “personal and private reasons” in October. Dickinger, who had been with the operator since founding it with fellow joint-MD Franz Ãmer in 1999, was immediately replaced by Michael Quatember, the operator’s head of finance and accounting.
In its results for the first half of the year bet-at-home cited a sharp increase in advertising expenses for a net loss of 3.3m, however the increase in GGR despite a 4% reduction in marketing costs demonstrates “a significant increase in the efficiency of marketing activities”, the company said in a statement.
Since the end of the second quarter, bet-at-home has been awarded an operating licence in Italy, however parent company Betclic Everest pulled out of Portugal earlier this year, while bet-at-home is among 12 operators which the Danish Gaming Authority has ordered a leading internet service provider to block.