Bwin's Poker Revenue Soars 26.1% to €118.8 million in 2009

Austrian online betting company Bwin has released its latest financial results, which show a 12.9% increase in its Q4 gross gaming revenue to €132.9 million, and an overall increase of 6.1% in its year-on-year gross gaming revenue to €432.7 in 2009.
The company operates in over 25 important markets and has more than 20 million customers worldwide, to whom it offers sports betting, poker and casino games, as well as live streaming sporting events, such as the German Bundesliga.
Bwin’s sports betting gross gaming revenue was up 3.3% to €66.6 million in Q4 but down by 3.8% to €226.3 million in 2009.
Casino gross gaming revenue was up 4.8% to €20.2 million in Q4 and up 5.4% to €73.7 million in 2009, while gross gaming revenue for games was up 35.8% to € 37.6 million in Q4 and up 30.7% to €27.8 million in 2009.
However, Bwin’s poker service was the star of the operation and saw its gross poker revenue surge by 35.8% to €37.6 million in Q4 and 26.1% to €118.8 million in 2009 from €94.2 million in 2008. The company’s acquisition of Italian poker operator Gioco Digitale in September 2009 has already contributed significantly to Bwin’s annual poker figures to the tune of €12.8 million.
In addition, the company’s active poker customers saw their numbers leap 55% to 1.05 million in 2009 compared to 678,409 in 2008.
Following release of the financial results, Analyst James Hollins said: “We continue to believe that 2010 will be a bumper year, stoked by the Italian market growth expanding into cash poker, bingo and casino games in H1 2010, customer acquisitions around the soccer World Cup and near-certain industry consolidation.”
The company’s share price has fluctuated throughout the year from a 52 week high of €48.00 to a 52 week low of €26.70. Bwin’s share price is currently trading at €41.90.