For many online poker rooms and internet gambling sites, the second quarter of 2008 has been a profitable one. Despite being diverted temporarily to soccer, the world continues to gamble online in high numbers. On Thursday, bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, which is traded on the Vienna Stock Exchange under the symbol “BWIN,” announced that its second quarter gross gaming revenue was €102 million, up 26% from the second quarter of 2007. Net gaming revenues were €88 million, up nearly 33% year over year.
Gross sports betting revenues during the second quarter of 2008 were €59.3 million, up 58% from the same period in 2007. The company announced it had a healthy one million active accounts (up 44%) and registered 296,000 new real-money accounts (up 71%) during the second quarter. Poker revenue was €20.9 million, up slightly from €20.3 million in 2007. It’s a trend that we’ve seen with other diversified companies; poker has leveled off a bit during the 2008 calendar year in comparison to 2007. It’s a phenomenon that has been seen in the United States and around the world.
In regards to its healthy growth in sports betting revenue, bwin commented in its earnings report, “This was mainly attributable to the major event of the EURO 2008 and the sustained dynamic growth of sports betting, especially in the live betting sector. bwin’s live betting interface was redesigned before the European Championships and now offers an average of around 2,600 events each month. The average percentage for live coverage amounts to 92%, meaning that bwin customers can find live events on offer at virtually any time of day.” In a true sign of how popular the European Championships are, bwin announced that it generated €221 million from the 31 matches that comprised the soccer tournament.
In the first half of 2008, bwin racked up €207.2 million in gross gaming revenue, its highest six-month total ever and a growth of 25% over the first half of 2007. Marketing expenses per customer were down by 5.1% in the first half of 2008 to €158.30. This number represents the total marketing dollars that must be spent in order to secure one customer and is one of the major reasons for high-dollar affiliate programs across the Internet gambling industry. Gross gaming revenues per active customer were €144.80, down by 4.1% year over year.
In case you’re wondering how many employees are needed in order to make a multi-million Euro company like bwin successful, here’s the information directly from the organization: “The number of staff as of the reporting date was 1,367 employees (including 63 freelance staff). This represented an increase of 32.3% compared to the previous year (1,033 employees including 67 freelance staff).”
The third quarter earnings report will be announced on November 20th. The featured tournament in bwin’s online poker room is The Grand, the signature tournament of the Ongame Network, which takes place during the last weekend of every month. The event boasts a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool, which is larger than the weekly tournaments held on Bodog, Ultimate Bet, and Absolute Poker, among others. The online poker room also hosts a $10,000 guaranteed Euro Daily, which comes with a $54 price tag.
