Bwin.party Revenues Down 19% To €652.4m In 2013

Bwin.party has released the company’s annual report revealing a 19% fall in total revenues to €652.4 million, compared to €801.6 million taken in the previous year. Despite the huge decline in growth, Bwin.party CEO Norbert Teufelberger said the company had suffered a ‘challenging year’ but had now reached a ‘turning point’.
Case in point, last year bwin.party stopped player acquisition in 18 countries including Cyprus and Brazil, as it made the transition towards regulated and soon-to-be regulated markets. In addition, the company had its IP blocked in Greece, where it had previously been the market leader for sports betting and casino igaming; experienced migration losses elsewhere, and also had to contend with a new 5% tax placed on sports betting in Germany.
Breaking the 2013 figures down further, the German market accounted for 25% of the company’s revenues, more than any other country where Bwin.party operates, with sports betting representing 36.1% of total company revenues, followed by casinos at 33%. Looking ahead, Teufelberger, commented:
“We are simplifying our business model. We have now much more focus on nationally regulated and nationally taxed markets. We have started to increase our presence in mobile and touch. Our growth rate is comparable now to the competitors’, actually a bit better, and we have successfully launched into New Jersey, which is obviously still only one state in the United States.”
Bwin.party launched its products in the newly regulated online gambling market of New Jersey, and the company is hoping that it will be well positioned to take advantage of the lucrative opportunities presented as other states pass internet gambling legislation. In its annual report, bwin.party highlighted several such states which offer huge upsides for the company as being California, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Colorado, and Texas.
“Well, in Nevada, we lodged an application some time ago, so we are working on completing that application. Whether California or any other state comes next is really, really, hard to predict. We have a very strong partner in California, United Auburn, with the Thunder Valley brand,” explained Teufelberger.