Gala Coral enjoys Q2 online profit surge
Group's online division sees EBITDA climb 138% year-on-year following recent investments in digital business
Profits from Gala Coral’s online division more than doubled during Q2 2014 driven by strong growth in gaming and in-play revenues as the firm began to feel the benefit of its investment in digital.
EBITDA derived from its Coral.co.uk, Eurobet.it, Galabingo.com and Galacasino.com sites reached £11.4m during the 12 weeks ended 12 April, an increase of 138% on the £4.8m recorded during the comparative period in 2013.
Active players were also up with Galacasino.com and Coral.co.uk both having witnessed a 38% increase in numbers, the latter increase attributed to various website site improvements, the release of the ‘Coral Connect’ card and a TV advertising campaign.
Sports stakes at Coral.co.uk reached £43.5m, 64% ahead of last year, although the Group said recent customer-friendly sports results had reduced gross win revenues by £1.6m.
But gaming gross win at Coral.co.uk was 103% up on Q2 2013 contributing £13.4m after a 56% rise in stakes and Galacasino also showed strong growth with player yields up 70% leading to a £2.0m rise in gross win.
Online marketing spend across the online division increased to £10.5m from £9.4m across the period.
The launch of live streaming in January helped increase in-play bet stakes at Coral.co.uk by 84% year-on-year, and an improved mobile platform boosted mobile penetration to 64% of actives.
According to Gala Coral Group chief executive Carl Lever, the Playtech-powered Coral Connect scheme “ which offers customers a single online and in-shop wallet “ was already ahead of full-year expectations following its release earlier this year.
“Online growth momentum is very encouraging with Coral.co.uk now coming through strongly,” Lever said.
“The combination of a single online wallet, improved content and simplified customer journeys is driving both actives and spend per head significantly ahead of expectations,” he added.
Galabingo.com saw active customers dip by 11%, however, the group said that was due to a drop in free-money players and real-money players were up 5% year-to-date and there was a 39% increase in spend per active customer in the quarter.
Total Galabingo.com stakes were up 24% on last year while mobile penetration increased to 52%, helped in part by the December release of a new tablet app.
Galacasino.com’s spend per actives was up 70% year-on-year, which contributed to a 133% increase in stakes and a gross win of £2m “ a 73% hike on last year.
The Group’s Italy facing sportsbook Eurobet recorded sports stakes of £5.3m, up 24% year-on-year from a 20% rise in active players, while gaming gross profit was £0.2m ahead with the company recognising that the recent release of virtual games had offset a decline in poker.
Gala Coral said it expected further growth in Italy during Q3 with new mobile casino games launched at the end of Q2 and the launch of “an increased range of live sports betting opportunities” during Q3.
Gala Coral’s online results should be further boosted in Q3 after the recent release of Sweden-facing website Gala while Galabingo.com today added its Flutter sports betting portfolio of products.