The French national football team wasn’t the only winner in the recently concluded World Cup 2018 in Russia.
On Wednesday, UK-listed gambling firm GVC Holdings announced that its net gaming revenue for the first six months of 2018 jumped 8 percent on a constant currency basis, thanks to vibrant World Cup wagering.
The fair weather during the first half of the year also played a role in the company’s positive net gaming revenue growth story, according to GVC.
GVC’s online business saw the fastest growth, up 20 percent on a constant currency basis thanks to a pipeline of new products and high-profile marketing campaigns.
Meanwhile, GVC’s UK retail shops languished in H1 2018, with net gaming revenues falling 3 percent. However, the bookmaker noted that the retail numbers could’ve been much worse if not for the World Cup and for the clear blue skies that encouraged people to gamble in the second quarter. European retail revenue rose 26 percent.
“The World Cup tournament as a whole has been a good one for the Group, helped by a better than expected gross win margin but also importantly volumes and value of new customer deposits,” the company said in a statement.
The overall financial picture showed that GVC’s second quarter was better than the first.
GVC’s estate of retail shops, including the Ladbrokes and Coral brands, recovered in the second quarter, posting 2 percent net gaming revenue growth. European retail revenue was also robust in the second quarter, climbing 16 percent on a constant currency basis. Online net gaming revenue accelerated by 25 percent in Q2.
“UK Retail trends improved in the second quarter as the weather proved less disruptive than in the first quarter, while growth in European Retail remained very strong, albeit helped by a soft comparative,” GVC said.
GVC said it will release its interim results on September 13, 2018.
