Member Article

Betfair enjoy Euro 2012 revenues

Online bookie’, Betfair, has seen revenue rise 13%, thanks to the Euro 2012 tournament.

In an interim management statement, the group said the number of active customers had increased to 485,000 from 430,000 in the first quarter of 2012.

Racing revenue was up 3% although growth was affected by fixture cancellations caused by the poor weather, and in tennis, interest in Andy Murray’s first Wimbledon final created Betfair’s biggest ever market, with over £58m of bets.

Stephen Morana, Betfair’s Chief Financial Officer, commented: “Revenue growth in the first quarter was primarily driven by Euro 2012, improved monetisation of exchange activity, continued mobile growth and a recovery in risk-sports margins. The resulting growth was partially offset by the impact of regulation.

“The UK, our largest market, was our strongest performing region, driven by the continued success of the “Don’t Settle for Less” advertising campaign and a great summer of sport.

“Mobile betting goes from strength to strength, reflecting increasing smartphone penetration, product enhancements and customer familiarity. Mobile usage and revenues doubled and half of all customers in the UK and Ireland placed a mobile bet in the first quarter. We have also continued to deliver important new product upgrades in recent months, including new Android and iPad apps that include our popular Cash Out functionality.

“Change in the regulatory environment in which we operate has brought challenges in the form of product restrictions and higher levels of taxation. This has recently been illustrated in Spain and Cyprus, which have sought to restrict the products that operators can offer, and in Germany, where a turnover tax has been implemented that purports to cover all sports betting.”

Revenues across the games and poker sectors of the business fell -7% and -4% respectively, as they were restricted by laws across Europe.

Breon Corcoran, previously chief operating officer at Irish bookmaker Paddy Power, joined Betfair as CEO, at the beginning of August.

Gerald Corbett, Betfair’s Chairman, said today: “I would like to formally welcome Breon to the company. I’m confident he is going to make a difference and I look forward to working with him to help Betfair realise its potential. In his first few weeks he has been getting to know the business, and our people, and will update the market with his plans in due course.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .