For the quarter, revenue came in at $107m, with the bulk ($93m) coming via 888’s B2C operations. Casino revenue rose 15% to $51m, poker rose 2% to $25m, but bingo fell 4% to $11m, a victim of the “competitive UK environment,” although the vertical was up 7% over Q3. 888’s ‘emerging’ revenue – which includes its Kambi Sports Solutions-powered sportsbook – rose 2% to $6m. The number of active customers rose 16% to 602k, the bulk of which came via poker, which rose 21% to 472k. Quarterly revenue per active customer was up 13% for casino, but down 16% in poker. 888’s B2B arm Dragonfish reported a 22% gain in revenue to $14m.
For the year as a whole, 888 reported revenue of $401m. B2C casino brought in $190m (+15%), poker contributed $94m (+7%), while bingo fell 16% to $44m and the emerging offering fell 2% to $24m. Dragonfish saw full-year revenue rise 5% to $48m. Looking ahead, 888 says 2014 has started strongly, with trading in the first 27 days of January up 3% over the same period last year. 888 is currently sitting on $123m in cash and equivalents vs. $55m in liabilities.
SKY BET ENJOYS MOBILE BOOST
Alderney-licensed Sky Betting and Gaming reported revenue up 27% in its fiscal H1, topping £84m in the six months ending Dec. 31. Operating profits at the BSkyB subsidiary were up 25% to £25m as unique user ranks grew 15%. Managing director Richard Flint told eGaming Review that the company’s introduction of seamless login for its mobile apps “has certainly worked” in boosting cross-sell between the Sky Bet and Sky Vegas verticals. Flint also said the November revamp of its Sky Poker software has “led to year-on-year growth which we haven’t had for a couple of years” and Flint expected “even stronger growth” when Sky’s new HTML5 software is adapted for tablet and mobile use.