Betsson sportsbook push bears fruit in Q1
B2C sportsbook gross profit trebles year-on-year as operator's pre-Euro 2012 push has desired effect.
Swedish operator Betsson has seen Q1 gross profit from its B2C sportsbook activities more than treble year-on-year, the operator has revealed in its results for the three months ended 31 March.
Aided by its acquisition of fellow Nordic operator Betsafe last June, B2C sports gross profit rose to SEK44.6m (£4.1m) compared to SEK14m for the corresponding period in 2011. Meanwhile gross turnover from sportsbook more than quadrupled for the period, coming in at SEK645.5m.
In an analyst call in Stockholm this morning, CEO Magnus Silfverberg (pictured) said: “We’ve had a strong focus on sportsbook throughout the last year [ahead of the Euro 2012 football championships] and it has started to bring results, and you can definitely see that in turnover from b2c sportsbook.”
However gross profit from B2B sportsbook fell almost 30% to SEK63.2m, with last year’s Gunners Gaming deal with football club Arsenal one of the areas yet to begin reaping rewards.
“We are working on the Gunners Gaming partnership to get it up to speed “ it’s still in the early phase as we launched it last autumn, and its developing but there is a lot more to do before it starts developing significant revenues,” explained Silfverberg.
Last week saw Betsson agree to acquire Nordic Gaming Group, with Silfverberg explaining today that “Their performance has been strong throughout the year and they have been delivering on their budgets.”
Growth in the Nordic markets has continued to be strong for Betsson according to the CEO, although some focus will be given to non-core markets in the coming year through Maltese spin-off company Angler Gaming.
The operator remains open to US partnerships and executives are known to have spent time stateside talking with potential partners but are not close to a deal.
“We are there more to learn and understand what going on and it will take time before its commercially viable to enter the us with a strong effort,” Silfverberg said.
The CEO also noted the value of mobile, describing the 20 to 30% of overall revenues generated by some UK mobile competitors as “something to target”.
“We believe a lot in mobile, we think it will grow as a percentage of our total, and both generate new customers and revenues,” said Silfverberg.