Austrian-based online betting company bwin released its 2010 third quarter financial report on Thursday. The firm, which is listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange (WBAG) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FWB), saw its total revenues for the third quarter rise 17.7% from the same period last year, but profits were down due to the expenses of entering the newly-regulated French market.
Marketing expenses in the third quarter rose to €31.3 million, up 30.5% from the same period last year, as bwin increased its activities after being granted a license in France. Due to an increase in employees, personnel expenses rose from €23.1 million in 2009 to €29.5 million in 2010. Meanwhile, the firm’s other expenses rose to €43.2 million, up 40.4% compared to the previous year.
bwin achieved earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of €6.6 million after a loss of €2.2 million in same period last year. The company said in a statement that the numbers were “impacted by one-off expenses associated with the market entry in France and preparations to take advantage of forthcoming regulation in a number of jurisdictions.”
The operator’s total revenues increased from €92.3 million to €108.7 million, which bwin stated was due to “sound development of sports betting, poker, and games.” The company saw a rise of 22.1% in its gross gaming revenues, helped by an increase of 22.6% in the sports betting segment. The gross gaming revenues for live betting reached a new record level of €34.9 million in the third quarter.
Gross gaming revenues in bwin’s poker segment achieved the strongest growth of all product groups in the third quarter of 2010, as revenues rose by 44.2% to €33.3 million. bwin noted that the results were boosted by Betfair, the world’s biggest betting exchange, which joined the Ongame Network on July 12th. The Network is a subsidiary of bwin and is the ranked the fifth largest online poker network in the world according to tracking site PokerScout.com.
Poker revenues rose by 28.2% to €104.0 million in the first nine months of 2010 compared to last year, which bwin says was primarily due to the acquisition of Italian poker operator Gioco Digitale. bwin purchased Gioco Digitale in September 2009 in anticipation of the new Italian gambling market. At the end of the third quarter of 2010, bwin’s poker network in Italy had a market share of just over 23%.
“The stabilization at this level was attributable to the implementation of additional functionalities, improved user friendliness, and a targeted marketing campaign since the migration to the new poker platform in February 2010,” the company said in a statement.
bwin is also confident that it will have a similar impact on the newly regulated poker market in France. The number of active poker customers was up by 70.0% in France following regulation in June. The bwin French poker network includes bwin.fr, the online sportsbook sajoo.fr, and B2B partner eurosportbet.fr. Overall, the operator recorded 1,208,000 active customers in the past quarter, an increase of 14.1%.
