Malta- and Curaçao-licensed online gambling operator and B2B services provider Gaming VC Holdings (GVC) reported a €9.2m profit in 2012, a sharp turnaround from the €145k loss in 2011. Overall revenues rose 34% to €59.6m, with German-language B2C brand CasinoClub reporting revenues of €28.1m (-4.5%) and Turkish/Latin American-focused Betboo contributing €10.3m (+17%). GVC’s B2B operations saw revenue rise more than threefold to €21.2m in its first full year following the 2011 acquisition of Sportingbet’s Turkish business. GVC also issued a trading update for the first three 83 days of 2013 in which daily pro forma revenues were up 27% to €348k, with the B2B side up 34% to €230k and B2C up 15% to €118k.
GVC CEO Kenneth Alexander said the group “met all of its key operational objectives’ in 2012, while chairman Lee Feldman said GVC had also reached an amicable settlement in its long-running litigation with Boss Media. Alexander called the acquisition of Sportingbet’s former operations in Denmark and in ‘grey’ markets like Germany and Greece “the most significant deal in the Group’s history,” which laid the foundations for “future transactions.”
In the meantime, GVC has begun the painful process of integrating Sportingbet’s operations into its own. Shortly after the acquisition was finalized, Alexander visited Sportingbet’s London branch to inform staff that the office would be closed by November. GamblingCompliance reported that Alexander informed staff that Sportingbet’s online gambling model was broken, and while some of the 120-odd staffers would be absorbed by GVC, many others would face redundancy. Alexander also visited Sportingbet’s trading and customer support teams in Jersey and Dublin to deliver a slightly more upbeat message, as GVC has identified Sportingbet’s trading platform as an area for potential growth.
