Besides the earnings report for Party Poker, which was released on Friday, the general public and members of the London Stock Exchange also received a full earnings update from 888, which is the parent company of Pacific Poker. Some of the highlights included a 40% increase in operating income during the first half of 2008 as well as a 36% bump in net gaming revenue.
Gigi Levy, the CEO of 888, commented in the company’s earnings release,
The first half of 2008 was very successful for 888 Holdings as our innovative strategy, enhanced offering, and strong brand enabled us to achieve record half year results and a seventh consecutive period of quarter on quarter growth. Revenue from our core operations has been boosted by the successful launch of 888ladies and 888sport, and our addition of over 1,000 best of breed games will help increase revenue further.
Total operating income during the first half of 2008 was $135 million, up from $97 million during the first half of last year. Casino revenues were $70.5 million, an increase over last year’s mark of $53.9 million. Poker revenues were up slightly to $41.7 million from $40.8 million. The company is looking to leverage its business-to-business units further, something that its earning release claims led to a profitable first half of the 2008 calendar: “The most recent development in our growth strategy has been the parallel process of integrating third party games into our platform and leveraging our assets to become a leading business-to-business (B2B) provider to other operators. This has proved very successful so far and will be an increasingly large contributor to our growth over the medium term.”
The company has sought to bring in third-party games into its offering and now has access to over 1,000 titles. 888Ladies.com is the Bingo arm of the company. The site is currently promoting a Caribbean Bingo cruise for two, which includes eight nights aboard the “Fun Ship” Carnival Miracle, setting sail from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and making stops in St. Maarten, St. Kitts, and St. Lucia. There is also an opportunity to win up to £2,800 just for depositing at 888Ladies.com.
888Sport.com offers live wagers on Cycling, Darts, Football, Poker, and even Politics. For the latter, wagers on the U.S. Presidential Election and U.K. General Election are open. Dennis Phillips and Ivan Demidov are the favorites to win the World Series of Poker according to 888Sport.com, which has both listed at 4:1 odds. Phillips and Demidov will be the two chip leaders when play resumes in November, holding 26.3 million and 24.4 million chips, respectively. Kelly Kim, who is the short-stack at the table, is going off at 25:1.
Pacific Poker offers more than $750,000 in guarantees every week, highlighted by the site’s $80,000 Guaranteed tournament, which takes place every Sunday. The buy-in is $132 and the tournament kicks off at 19:35 GMT. Micro-satellites begin at just $0.66. A $55 buy-in $20,000 Guaranteed tournament also occurs daily (except Sundays) at 19:35 GMT.
On Friday, shares of 888, which are traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “888,” closed up £2.50 to £148.25. 888’s companies do not accept U.S. customers.
