eGaming Review Power 50: 50 to 31

Welcome to the 2013 edition of the Power 50, eGaming Review’s guide to the power players in the online gambling industry

50. PKR

(2012 position: 37)

Poker continues to be a tough operating environment and PKR is focused on opportunities in the regulated US market for future growth although it is yet to sign any deals. Its mobile launches in poker have been successful, and should add incremental revenue during the next 12 months. Its French operations continue to be on a small scale and the UK remains its key market. Potential expansion of its casino and exchange betting business could see it move up a gear, but the US remains the big prize.

49. GAMING MEDIA GROUP

(41)

It was all change at the top of GMG in August when CEO and founder Crispin Nieboer, COO Grant Williams and finance director Shaun Barron left the operator. Quietly parted way with its TV product The Poker Channel in October and is now focussed on delivering its regulated online poker, bingo and casino business into Spain and Denmark, while its dot.com site remains profitable.

48. STAN JAMES

(44)

Increased visibility in the UK market thanks to its first major TV ad campaign and sports sponsorship, while new mobile sportsbook and casino apps should have an incremental effect on revenues in 2014. Revenues are slightly down across all verticals year-on-year and the business continues to be loss-making, however these losses have significantly reduced for the year ending June 2013, according to figures seen by eGR. It remains one of the smaller players in the competitive.

47. CAESARS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT

(N/A)

The online arm of casino group Caesars became only the second licensed real money operator to go live in the US in September. Its potential is enormous given its land-based footprint in the US and ownership of the WSOP brand, however it is still without its own poker and casino software which needs to be addressed. Its UK-facing WSOP-branded offerings in partnership with 888 is a valuable foothold ““ as are its Italian and French offerings ““ and it continues to generate significant revenues from its social gaming businesses.

46. MYBET

(34)

The Schleswig-Holsteinbased operator slashed earnings projections for the year in the wake of increasing regulatory uncertainty in Germany and subsequent reduction of marketing. EBIT forecast for the 2013 financial year was cut from at least €2.5m to between minus €1m and €0m. However results for the six months ended June 2013 showed a small rise of 3% in net gaming revenue to €34.9m driven largely by the firm’s casino and poker verticals which rose 25% to €12.4m.

45. SPORTING INDEX

(30)

Continues to dominate the spread betting market with its market share estimated at 77%, while also growing its B2B arm Sporting Solutions at an impressive rate as demand for in-running trading accelerates. This year Sporting Index has produced record revenues from its B2C business, growing 16% compared to 2012, with mobile revenues up 68% year-on-year boosted by a new mobile site. After pumping £4m and employing 40 new staff last year, 2013 has seen it invest £3m in developing a new proprietary trading platform designed to reduce complex bet processing times.

44. INTRALOT INTERACTIVE

(47)

The Greek lottery and gaming operator posted a strong set of H1 2013 results with EBITDA and revenue rising 20% and 4% respectively. While online revenues from the operator’s Intralot Interactive business have not been given, the past year has seen Intralot’s Italian business become one of the first companies to offer dot.it slots. More recently, the operator launched a US-facing freeplay egaming site, hinting at aspirations beyond lotteries there, as well as rolling out a mobile platform for its Peruvian business Intralot de Peru.

43. LA FRANÇAISE DES JEUX

(49)

FDJ generated €388m in online sales from its sports betting, lottery, scratch card games and Bingo Live products with nearly one million players and four million unique visitors per month accessing its FDJ.fr homepage. The former monopoly and lottery operator broke the €12bn turnover mark for the first time in 2012, up 6.1% last year compared to 2011, with the bulk of its revenues generated from its dominant lottery product vertical, mainly via retail outlets.

42. WINAMAX

(24)

The French operator suffered a blow in September as MD Canel Frichet stepped down. The final year of her six-year tenure saw Winamax consolidate its position as the number one poker site in the French market, holding off increasing pressure from PokerStars and a wider market decline in player numbers. Mobile has helped it consolidate its market-leading position in France and it has made tentative steps into the UK market. No further progress in the US.

41. PROBABILITY

(43)

The mobile gaming operator revealed 2013 full-year net gaming revenue grew 20% to £8.6m from the £7.1m recorded in 2012, albeit leading to an operating loss of £750,000. It has, however, made moves into the regulated US market through a content licensing and development deal with games supplier Spin Games, and secured an Italian operating licence in December 2012 following regulation of slots. Still one of the only operators in the UK and Italy to solely focus on mobile, it has invested in improving platform technology ““ Slot-O-Matic ““ to expedite the launch of mobile games to customers.

40. BOYLESPORTS.COM

(40)

After separating its digital business away from retail last year, online CEO Keith O’Loughlin has made sweeping changes, notably investing in a proprietary platform and establishing a specialist marketing and CRM hub in London. An increased focus on mobile led to a new-look mobile bingo site being launched in July. It is firmly focused on trying to grab a larger share of the UK market and now looks to have the structure, technology and leadership in place to begin doing so.

39. BGO (COSTA BINGO)

(N/A)

BGO-owned Costa Bingo announced the launch of a new casino offering, adding a range of casino and slots games to its main website. The bingo room’s parent company BGO Entertainment recently announced the launch of a new £10m marketing campaign, with TV advertising managed by London-based agency MWO.

38. WEBIS HOLDINGS

(45)

Betinternet-owner Webis posted strong revenue growth in its online sportsbook and casino in the financial year ended May 31 2013 thanks largely to an increase in its live betting offering. Has increased the number of sports for which it offers in-play content, with tennis proving to be popular following its addition in January 2013. Casino and games also experienced growth during the period, although the group said revenues from the vertical were “slightly impacted” by some big wins. Tote betting and racetrack operation WatchandWager inked a deal to offer pari-mutuel betting and live video streaming on all Churchill Downs races in May this year, having secured a licence to operate its tote business in California in 2012.

37. LEOVEGAS

(N/A)

The Nordic-focused online casino firm has a strong focus on mobile and has seen impressive growth during the period as a result. Its limited geographic scope, and the uncertain regulatory picture in Scandinavia has some effect on its final ranking, but it is high on many firms’ radars at the current time.

36. MFORTUNE

(27)

One of the few mobile-only operators on the list, it has a clearly targeted proposition aimed at the lower-spending end of the market. It has a strong product suite and has taken an innovative approach to its mobile poker product as well as focusing on the social media side of its business. With big growth in mobile casino expected during 2014 it will hope to capitalise on its first-mover advantage.

35. TOMBOLA

(38)

Strong bingo presence in key regulated markets and arguably the market leader in the UK. It also has a presence in Spain and Italy where it has around an 18% market share. With the UK bingo market proving an increasingly tough operating environment international expansion will be a key driver of growth as will its mobile product suite with both Android and iPhone apps available.

34. 32RED

(35)

Saw first-half revenues rise by 15% year-on-year despite a slow start in Italy, where it launched dot.it slots in November 2012. 32Red’s presence there will increase as time goes on, as will its strategy of targeting newly regulated markets in Europe. Core operations continue to perform well, with underlying revenues growing 12% year-on-year to £18.5m. The firm’s flagship casino offering represented 94% of the total after revenues from other verticals fell 14% to £1.1m.

33. 188BET

(46)

The Isle of Man-based operator has one of the broadest product portfolios in the Asian-facing sector and a strong mobile product. There is no doubting its financial muscle, although revenues could not be verified, but its impact outside Asia is limited and it has downscaled its marketing in Europe with no renewals of its football shirt sponsorships for the 13/14 season. In the absence of any hard financial data from 188 it’s hard to rank it accurately and it remains below some of its key competitors in the region.

32. DANSKE SPIL

(23)

The former monopoly produced double-digit profit growth in the first year since the liberalisation of the dot.dk egaming market. For the year ended 31 December, revenues increased by 13.8%, partly due to its online poker and casino offerings launched in partnership with bwin.party. Danske Spil has emerged as the market leader in casino and has strengthened its market-leading position in sports betting with an OpenBet sportsbook platform deal and a pari-mutuel tote betting system via Sportech Racing.

31. SPORTECH

(29)

Sportech’s strength lies in its diversity and, having seen its UK egaming business fall flat in 2013, revenues from further afield are becoming increasingly important. H1 revenues were stable at £57m while profit before tax stood at £5.9m, down from £7.4m in 2012. Strong progress has been made in the US with Sportech Racing, which accounts for more than 40% of operational EBITDA. The past year has seen it launch its first B2B site as the exclusive operator of horseracing wagering in Connecticut, win a six-year multi-state tech deal with Penn National and launch an online fantasy sports product. A long-running VAT claim worth around £95m, to be settled in April 2014, is also worth highlighting.

Tomorrow: Positions 30 to 11