Following its acquisition of an Italian online gaming asset, the European gaming giant bwin was able to show a profit in both its fourth quarter gross revenues as well as for the Financial Year 2009.
In an announcement released this week, bwin demonstrated its dominance in the European market in all areas of its product. While the financial numbers reported would have been excellent standing alone, bwin – which acquired the Italian gaming operation Gioco Digitale in September of 2009 – was able to reap further benefits from the addition of the Italian company. From the information released, the addition of Gioco Digitale, which gave bwin a seat of operations in the Italian gaming market, will continue to be a strong part of the company.
For the fourth quarter of 2009, bwin showed increases in every area of the company. Total gross gaming revenue was up 12.9% to €132.9 over the fourth quarter of 2008’s profits of €117.7 million. The best increases came in the online poker operations, where a 35.8% increase in gross revenues to €37.6 million (over 2008’s €27.7 million) led all areas of the company. The sports betting arm of the company (up 3.3% to €66.6 million) and its casinos (up 4.8% to €20.2 million) added in to make up for the fourth quarter increase.
For the financial year 2009 overall, bwin was able to show increases in most areas of the company despite the global economic issues throughout the year. Gross gaming revenues for the year were up 6.1% to €446.6 million, vastly outpacing 2008’s final revenues of €420.9 million. Online poker once again led the way for the company, earning 26.1% more in 2009 (€118.8 million) than bwin did in 2008 (€94.2 million). While casino gaming gross revenues were up for the year in total (up 5.4% to 73.7 million), sports betting was the only area that showed a downturn, falling 3.8% for 2009 and earning €226.3 million versus 2008’s €235.4 million.
All of the numbers reported include the additional income of Gioco Digitale’s Italian citizens. Even if you take away the numbers generated by Gioco Digitale, bwin was still able to show a profit for the overall financial year of 2.8%. Where the addition of Gioco Digitale will most be felt perhaps is in the online poker room, where the company was able to push bwin’s fourth quarter numbers out of the red.
Back in September, the announcement of bwin’s purchase of Gioco Digitale rocked the online gaming world. The purchase, rumored to be in the neighborhood of €100 million (roughly $140 million U. S. at the time), was initiated by bwin to establish a foothold in Italy, where the country requires that an online gaming organization has a dedicated site for Italians to play at and must abide by established Italian gaming laws. Gioco Digitale reportedly held over 20% of the Italian market and, with the added 7% that bwin captured, makes for a formidable operation in Italy.
Estimates for the company in the future look very good, according to Yahoo! Finance UK. Through analysts’ estimates, bwin looks to earn €553.02 million in 2011, which would be approximately a 20% increase over 2009 numbers. At the close of trading on Friday on the Vienna Stock Exchange, bwin’s stock – traded as BWIN – was slightly down from yesterday at €40, down €1.7 from Thursday’s action.