Sky Betting & Gaming continues strong performance as revenues hit £516m

Sky Betting & Gaming has said it is ‘proud’ of the company’s financial performance, which has been driven by investments in the brand, technology and people.

For the year ending June 2017, the Leeds-based online gambling firm reported revenues of £516m, which is a 38% increase on last year’s £374m.

During this period, Sky Bet’s revenue rose 46% to £314m and Sky Gaming increased by 27% to £202m. Over 80% of revenues were from mobile devices.

These figures were driven by a 31% increase in its overall customers base, which now stands at 2.6 million.

As a result of this strong performance, Sky Betting & Gaming’s workforce grew by 40% in the Yorkshire region.

Richard Flint, CEO of Sky Betting & Gaming, commented: “The business performed very well in 2016/17, with further investments in product, technology and brand delivering strong financial results.

“During the year, we invested in people and technology in our Yorkshire base, with a 40% increase in headcount, helping us to cement our position as the UK’s most popular online betting brand.

“We delivered innovative and market-leading products during the year, including an in-app RequestABet builder, real time promotions, crowd boosted accumulators, and personalised programmatic marketing.

“Protecting customers from harm, and providing a safe betting and gaming environment is critical to our success, and we continue to invest in more people and better processes to identify and protect vulnerable customers.”

He added: “We are proud of our record of job creation and investment in Yorkshire, as well as our contribution to regional and national taxation. Taking all our taxes in aggregate, our contribution was £153m in the year, or 30% of our revenue. We are also beginning to export our success, and it was a landmark year for the business, with the launch of skybet.it.”

“Following the end of our financial year, we completed an £820m sterling equivalent refinancing of our loan, reflecting the strong growth in the business since CVC acquired an 80% stake in March 2015.

“We enter our 2017/18 financial year with strong momentum, and we will maintain our focus on investment in Yorkshire, delivering innovative and quality products and offers to our customers, leaving us confident that we can deliver further growth.”