Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE) had a record year in 2015 as its social and mobile games continued to outpace real-money online gambling.
On Tuesday, CIE reported Q4 revenue of $209.2m, up one-third from one year ago. Social and mobile games operating under CIE’s Playtika umbrella accounted for $198.8m of this total, while revenue from CIE”s real-money online gambling operations in Nevada and New Jersey gained $1.4m to $10.4m. Adjusted earnings rose 62.6% to $78m.
For the year as a whole, CIE’s revenue rose 30.6% to a record $785.5m, while earnings improved nearly 60% to $282.7m thanks in part to CIE cutting its real-money online gambling marketing budget.
CIE’s Q4 metrics show continued success in attracting new players to Playtika social casino titles such as Slotomania, with average daily active users up 11%, average monthly actives up over 10% and average monthly unique users gaining nearly 15%.
More importantly, CIE continues to convert social game players to payers at an enviable rate. The ranks of average monthly unique payers rose 30.4% while average revenue per user rose 6¢ to 34¢.
CIE is part of Caesars Acquisition Company (CACQ), a holding company that was spun off from the Caesars Entertainment mothership to hold Caesars’ majority interest in Caesars Growth Partners, into which Caesars steered some of its more lucrative assets ahead of the bankruptcy filing of Caesars’ main unit.
CACQ also controls some brick-and-mortar casino properties – Bally’s Las Vegas, The Cromwell, The LINQ, Planet Hollywood, Harrah’s New Orleans and Horseshoe Baltimore – which it bundles under Casino Properties and Developments. This division reported Q4 revenue rising nearly 6% to $392.4m, while adjusted earnings were up one-third to $80.3m.
CACQ’s overall Q4 revenue rose 14.2% to $601.5m while earnings rose 50% to $156.3m. The numbers were similarly good on the full-year front, with revenue up one-quarter to $2.34b and earnings up 52% to $632.3m.
