SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Paddy Power published its interim financial report for the opening quarter of 2014. The Irish gambling operator reported that despite a growth in sales in the opening months of 2014, the operator has been impacted by “adverse sporting results”.
Chairman Nigel Northridge, stated that the company had witnessed its worst two weekends for football profitability. The weekends of January 11-13th and March 22nd -23rd of 2014, when nine of ten Premiership favourites won their respective matches, resulted in the bookmaker having to payout vast amounts of winnings to punters who had placed accumulator bets.
Statistically, on any given weekend, 54% of football favourites will win their matches, Paddy Power like many other bookmakers saw negative results during these weekends. The bookmaker will hope for a more positive set of results in the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Northridge noted that the operator had seen a strong growth in other key business areas, with online sports betting wagering up 20% on 2013 figures. Paddy Powers retail business had also seen an increase in wagering activity of 5% on 2013 figures.
Paddy Power was also pleased to report that it had witnessed a 16% increase in new player acquisitions for the opening months of 2014. Looking to the full year, the company said that it expects the impact of the adverse sports results “to be largely offset by the impact of positive top-line momentum, the recycling of winnings by customers, favourable exchange rate movements and the later than expected introduction of the Irish online and phone betting tax.”
Other highlights of Paddy Powers Q1 Interim report read as follows
- Total online net revenue grew by 1 per cent, with 12 per cent growth in eGaming/B2B net revenue offsetting the adverse impact of year-on-year sports results. Mobile accounted for 54 per cent of the company’s total online revenue in April
- Total online net revenue grew by 1%, with 12% growth in eGaming/B2B net revenue offsetting the adverse impact of year-on-year sports results. Online stakes grew by 20%, 22% in Australia and 19% in Online (ex Australia).
- Paddy Power Opened fourteen new betting shops in the UK and 11 in Ireland in Q1 2014.
- As of May 11th, the group had no debt and net cash of € 264 million, or € 197 million excluding customer balances.
- Paddypower.it, achieved a 10% share of the sports betting market and an increased share of the casino market to 3% in the period
