bwin Poker Revenue Saved By Italian MarketSecond Quarter Poker Revenue at bwin Grows 21 Percent But Without Italy Would Have Fallen 14.5 Percent |
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bwin Interactive, parent company of bwin poker and the Ongame poker network, saw gross gaming revenue from poker jump 21.1 percent in the second quarter of 2010 to €32.5 million compared to €26.9 million in the same period of 2009.
However, the figure includes revenue for Italy’s Gioco Digitale which the company bought last year. If figures for the Italian market are stripped out, poker fared less well at bwin, dropping 14.5 percent to €23 million.
For the first six months of 2010, gross gaming revenue in the poker segment grew by 21.8 percent €70.6 million compared to €58.0 million in the first half of 2009. Again, excluding Gioco Digitale, revenue fell 16.0 percent to €48.7 million.
The company said, “Amongst other things, this decline was attributable to the Soccer World Cup, which channelled customer interest strongly towards sports betting, and continued stiff competition, particularly from poker providers still offering real money gaming to US customers. Due to the large number of US poker players, they have significant benefits in size with respect to player liquidity as well as financial advantage.”
The company, which also recently launched real money games in the newly regulated French market, said, “The smooth launching of a wide product portfolio of cash games and tournaments is evidence of the Company’s technological maturity, the flexibility of its platform, and its thorough preparations. In the first month after the start of real money poker operations on www.bwin.fr, gross gaming revenues were over three times the monthly average on www.bwin.com in France for the period January to May. The French poker network comprises not only www.bwin.fr, but also www.sajoo.fr and www.eurosportbet.fr, and will be rapidly expanded. The Company’s declared objective is to play a leading role in the newly regulated French online gaming market.”
The company also recently announced a merger with PartyGaming and said in its financial report that, “The merger will open up new strategic, financial and operational opportunities, and will be in the interest of the shareholders of both companies. The timing of this merger is optimal, as the industry is currently going through a phase of consolidation, and size is an important competitive factor. Furthermore, the two companies’ revenue distributions complement one another, with respect to both products and geographical dispersal.”
In other news, Norbert Teufelberger, yesterday told Egrmagazine.com that pulling out of the U.S. market will prove to be the biggest mistake he ever made if PokerStars and Full Tilt are not frozen out of the market if and when it is regulated and opened up to online operators again.
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