PARTY GAMING LAUNCHES NEW ITALIAN ONLINE POKER SITE
10 July 2009
Deal with Intralot comes to fruition
Online gambling group Party Gaming's agreement with
Intralot SA three months ago to provide an Italian
online poker operation (see previous InfoPowa report)
came to fruition this week when the gambling group
announced the launch of the new Intralot.it poker site.
Following the receipt of certification from the Italian
regulator, AAMS, the Intralot poker service is now being
rolled out and will join Party's Italian poker network.
While the group’s Italian poker network has only
been operating a few weeks, with the expected
introduction of poker cash games before the end of the
year, the Board is hopeful that Italy will prove to be a
profitable and exciting regulated online gaming market
in the medium to long-term, the company said in a
statement.
Party Gaming took the opportunity to
additionally deliver a pre-close trading update,
revealing that since 6 April 2009, revenues have
remained robust and in line with that achieved in the
first quarter of 2009.
Online casino revenue has
shown a significant increase from the first quarter
despite a fall in casino active player days due to
seasonality and lower levels of cross-sell from poker.
This revenue growth has been driven by the group’s main
casino site, PartyCasino.com, which accounts for over 70
percent of the Party group’s casino revenue.This
operation continues to perform strongly on the back of a
substantial increase in the number of games offered as
well as the launch of a dedicated affiliate programme
and major international marketing campaign, both of
which commenced last (June) month.
There has
been a marginal reduction in active player days in the
poker operations compared with Q1, but this due to the
summer months in Europe, where online activities are
quieter. Rivals who continue to offer poker to US
clients continue to provide very strong competition. The
company reports that its enhanced player loyalty
programme, improved player promotions and a new offline
marketing campaign saw each of these metrics improve
last month. As a result of these initiatives, poker
yields have been softer than in the first quarter due to
increased bonus and player loyalty costs, resulting in a
reduction in poker revenue versus the first quarter.
Sports betting revenue was down on the previous
quarter, reflecting a reduction in betting volume due to
the end of the season for European football, which
remains the single most popular sport for betting
customers.
Whilst bingo is currently small in the
context of the Party group, management says that it
believes it represents a significant opportunity with
the global online bingo market estimated at $1.5 billion
per annum. The B2B deals signed over the past few months
with CIRSA, DM plc and Channel 5 (see previous InfoPowa
reports) are expected to benefit bingo revenues during
the fourth quarter of 2009.
Party appears to see
the recent New York US Attorney's seizure of online
poker funds with US e-processors as an opportunity to
take players away from the US-facing poker rooms, and it
has increased its marketing spend in certain
territories.
Whilst this has already had a
positive impact on player numbers, it is also expected
to lead to distribution costs being slightly higher than
the firm's previous full year guidance of 38-40 percent
of net revenue. However, continued cost savings and
favourable currency movements have meant that lower
staff and overhead costs have mitigated the increase in
marketing costs and consequently, clean EBITDA margins
for both the half year and the full year results are
still expected to be in line with that achieved for the
full year in 2008.
The group’s interim results
will be announced on 28 August 2009.
Jim Ryan,
Party Gaming's CEO said: “The Group’s strategy remains
on-track and I am pleased that many of the seeds we have
sown over the past year are now beginning to bear fruit.
"The improvements to our poker product and
loyalty programme, the addition of Intralot to our
Italian poker network and the launch this week of bingo
and casino facilities for DM plc are clear examples of
this. We look forward to the rest of the year with
confidence.”
Online Casino News Courtesy of
Infopowa
More news here.
Top of page |
Home |
News |
Forum |
Webcast |
Vortran |
Accredited Casinos |
Evil Ones |
Pitch a Bitch |
Online Gambling Resources |
Poker
|
