GVC Holdings, the multinational sports betting and gaming group, has announced its first-quarter figures.

The group delivered a strong performance in Q1, with daily NGR up 13 per cent on Q1 2016. Sports brands continued to deliver strong growth with sports NGR up 12 per cent, with the gross win margin of 9.6 per cent an improvement on the 8.5 per cent for the same period in 2016, despite customer friendly results at the end of March.

Meanwhile, daily gaming NGR for sports brands grew 19 per cent, reflecting the continued benefits of improved marketing and product, implemented after the acquisition of bwin.party.

Games brands daily NGR increased four per cent as the division continues to gain momentum. Particularly impressive was the performance of partypoker, which saw a further acceleration in daily NGR.

CEO Kenneth Alexander said: “I’m delighted at the performance of the group, with the positive momentum continuing in 2017. Comparatives will get more challenging as we move through the rest of the year, particularly in the absence of a major football tournament this summer.

“However, I’m very confident that the combination of continued enhancements to the customer offering combined with a return to more normalised marketing spend will deliver another year of strong progress at GVC.”