Canadian gambling giant Amaya Inc. registered a 9.5% in revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2016, as the company said in its latest quarterly report. Group revenue for the period totaled $270.8 million, up from the amount of $247.4 million. Revenue for the nine months to September 30 amounted to $845.5 million, reflecting an 8.5% increase year-on-year.
Online poker kept on being Amaya’s most profitable business. Real-money online poker revenue amounted to $196.8 million during the period in review. Despite dropping 1.3% year-on-year, the company said that the revenue reported was indicative of the positive impact of its recently initiated strategy to focus on attracting recreational players.
The positive impact from online poker was said to have compensated for a 7.8% drop in revenue in July following the 2016 UEFA Euro football championship and the suspension of operations in certain smaller jurisdictions.
Revenue from real-money online poker operations accounted for 73% of the total for the third quarter of the year. Revenue from Amaya’s real-money online casino and sports betting business represented 24% of total revenue. In comparison, the company’s newly established casino and sportsbook operations held a 15% share of the whole during the same period of the previous year.
Adjusted EBITDA amounted to $123.2 million, up 14% year-on-year. Net earnings from continuing operations jumped 136.4% to reach a positive of $12.5 million. Adjusted net earnings totaled $85 million, up 23.1% from the prior-year period.
The number of quarterly real-money active uniques (QAU) reached 2.4 million during the three months to September 30, up 5% year-on-year. Almost 2.3 million of all QAUs played online poker, mirroring an increase of 3% from the same period of 2015. The gambling operator reported that its online casino products attracted 486,000 QAUs during the quarter in review, up 40% year-on-year. Last but not least, sportsbook operations had 232,000 QAUs, up significantly from the prior-year period.
The number of customer registrations was up by around 1.9 million. Thus, Amaya had approximately 105.5 million registered customers by the end of the reported quarter.
Commenting on the latest results, Amaya CEO Rafi Ashkenazi said that they act as an indication to the success of the proactive changes they have been making to their poker ecosystem. The executive also said that they are to leverage the positive momentum in their other businesses so as to turn Amaya’s brands into leading gambling destinations for international players.
Yesterday, former Amaya CEO and Chairman David Baazov announced an official bid to buy the company he had led up until recently and take it private. Mr. Baazov offered a purchase price of C$3.5 billion for the major operator. It is yet to become clear whether the company’s Board would accept the offer and whether it would result in a transaction taking place.
