Mobile boom powers Sky Betting growth

Sky Betting and Gaming has seen its annual gross margins rise 21% driven by strong growth in online gambling and a boom in mobile take-up, managing director Richard Flint exclusively told eGaming Review this morning, on the same day as parent company BSYB also announced its yearly results.

Flint said that gross margins, after free bet costs, were up 21% to £58m from £48m, while profits had risen by 50% compared to the same period to the end of June last year.

“The huge take-up in mobile, which has trebled in the last six months as well as our more efficient use of our marketing budget on Google, TV and online, has driven growth,” he said.

“More than 80% of our growth is online, however mobile is now our second biggest channel overtaking interactive TV and our call centre. The iPhone has been massive. The ability to bet straight from our app on an iPhone has been very popular and allows players to get much closer to our content.”

Almost 1.5 million people have downloaded the Sky Sports Score Centre app on the iPhone, the Sky Betting managing director said.

He added a potential resurgence in interactive television could take place in the next 18 months as parent company and satellite TV group BskyB begins to roll out broadband-enabled set-top boxes to households across the UK.

Sky Betting and Gaming runs five websites including Sky Bet, Sky Vegas, Sky Poker, Sky Bingo and Oddschecker.

Meanwhile, BSkyB also reported a sharp jump in annual profits, driven by new subscriptions, particularly for high definition (HD) services.

Profit for the year to the end of June came in at £878m, up more than threefold on the £259m the broadcaster made in the previous 12 months. Revenue also rose to £5.9bn, up more than 10% on the £5.4bn recorded a year earlier. The company said it had doubled the number of HD customers over the year and that between April and June, it added 429,000 new HD customers.