bwin.party digital entertainment said that trading performance overall in the first quarter of the year has been “as expected,” reporting a one per cent increase to €215.9m in total revenue.
"Casino has continued to perform well as has our sports business that saw strong growth in both player activity and amounts wagered, albeit at a lower margin compared with last year which was particularly strong,” said Jim Ryan and Norbert Teufelberger, co-CEOs.
Amounts wagered in sports betting was up 11 per cent to €1,083.4m, with casino and other games revenue up 10 per cent at €71m. Poker revenue was down three per cent to €52.2m and bingo revenue down 15 per cent year-on-year at €15.6m.
Ryan and Teufelberger continued: “The poker market remains challenging across Europe and while the number of unique players in our bingo business has started to grow again during the first quarter, this was not enough to reverse the impact of a drop in market share that took place in 2011.”
The group, which announced an online poker deal in California this month, remains on-track to realise the €65m of merger synergies as planned, which it said will help to mitigate the impact of additional gaming taxes as well as the current macroeconomic challenges faced by a number of European economies.
With the imminent launch of bwin.party’s download casino product on the bwin platform, the Euro 2012 football tournament starting next month and the integration of its poker liquidity in the second half, the group remains confident about its full year prospects.
