PartyGaming – mother company of popular room Party Poker – has shown revenue growth in all of the company’s areas, as evidenced by their recently released results of this year up to June. PartyGaming is also announcing the appointment of Rod Perry as Non-Executive Chairman, replacing Michael Jackson.
Here is a summary of PartyGaming’s results for the first half of 2008 compared to the same results in 2007:
- Poker revenues have gone up by only 6% (from $144.6 to $153.9mil), but they are expected to be even higher later in the year.
- Casino revenues increased from $65.1 to $89.9, a respectable increase of 38% due to more players and more play.
- Bingo revenues shot up a whopping 82% (from $1.1mil to $2mil,) and PartyGaming credits the company’s growth in the UK for this massive increase in casino yield.
- Sports betting revenues also increased a significant 36%, from $6.6mil to $9mil, due to a “strong increase in betting volume.”
- In summary, total revenue has gone up 17% year-on-year: while half-year revenues were $217.4m in 2007, this year they have reached $254.8m.
Jim Ryan, PartyGaming’s CEO, made a statement regarding these results. These are some excerpts from his comments:
Our poker business continues to grow but is being held back by the continued competition from those sites that accept players from the US.
We also now plan to enter into relationships with other gaming companies across all our products.
The imminent relaunch of PartyPoker will be at the heart of (focusing on customer base) initiative and should foster further growth of our existing franchise.
In the 8 weeks ended 25 August 2008, average gross daily revenue was $1,601,600. In poker, new player sign-ups averaged 993 per day and there were on average 50,800 active players per day, generating average gross daily revenue of $835,300.
In casino, average gross daily revenue was $694,100, in bingo it was $27,600 while in sports betting, average gross win per day was $44,600.
Whilst trading in poker since 30 June 2008 has been slightly softer than we would have expected, with a number of new initiatives underway, including the relaunch of PartyPoker and our refocused strategy in place, the Board remains confident about the Group’s future prospects.
PartyGaming seems to be trading well in all fronts, which signals a good moment for a change at the highest levels: as had been announced in May of this year when current CEO Jim Ryan was appointed, former Chairman Michael Jackson was stepping down. A replacement has been found in Rod Perry, who was announced today as PartyGaming’s new Non-Executive Chairman.
Mr. Perry has been a member of the PartyGaming Board since 2005, serving as Senior Independent Director since February 2007. Since he is now Chairman, the position of Senior Independent Director will be assumed by Lord Moonie, who has been a member of the Board since December 2007.
Newly appointed Chairman Rod Perry said: “I am honoured to have been selected by the Board to lead PartyGaming into its next phase of development. Since becoming a public company, we have had to face and overcome a series of major challenges. Looking forward, I am excited about the opportunities that a fresh approach under Jim Ryan as CEO will bring and am confident that under his stewardship, the management team can unlock further value for shareholders.”
Jim Ryan did not spare compliments for the new Chairman, declaring, “Rod’s experience and knowledge of the online gaming sector and PartyGaming make him the ideal person to oversee the Board going forward and to provide continuity following a period of a change to the membership of the Board. On behalf of my fellow Directors, I wish to thank Michael Jackson for his service to PartyGaming over the last 3.5 years.”