UK betting and casino games operator Gala Coral Group announced its financial statement for the financial year 2013-14, posting a 14% increase in profits. As it was stated, the company’s online services contributed most to the overall numbers.
Gala earned a total of £235.5 million for the past twelve months ending September 27. By comparison, its earnings added up to £205.7 million in the fiscal year 2012-13. As for its gross profit, it marked a 9% increase to £890 million.
Carl Leaver, CEO of the group, stated that they have invested huge amounts of money for its online operations and this obviously resulted in a considerable rise in numbers. In other words, the company had “an outstanding year”, according to its executives.
Its earnings from online activities marked an almost 100% rise, amounting to £49.5 million for the past twelve months. Group’s site Coral.co.uk posted a 134% increase in turnover to £66.5 million. Sportsbook profits grew by 119% and those from gaming activities grew by 107%. This fiscal year, the company acquired 70% more active players and spend per customer increased 9%.
Back in January, the group launched a live streaming service which contributed significantly to the 198% growth of in-running stakes. More than two-thirds of Gala’s active players placed bets through their mobile devices in this fiscal year, which is 13.4% more than in the previous twelve-month period.
Its Italian platform Eurobet.it generated turnover of £5.6 million. It was reported that profits from sportsbook grew by 47% and those from gaming activities grew by 21%. Eurobet’s turnover constituted 9.2% of the total regulated sports betting revenue in Italy. Virtual betting, in particular, did more than well.
Coral’s platform Galacasino.com posted turnover of £21.6 million, marking a 56% increase as compared to last year. The number of active customers grew by 14%.
Galabingo.com reported on a 21% rise in revenue, adding up to £79.5 million, although bingo market in UK was not particularly flourishing during the past twelve months. Gala Sweden, introduced in the third quarter of this fiscal year, posted modest turnover of £100,000.
Gala’s Telebet business marked a considerable 150% decrease in earnings, generating only £500,000. The fact that people now prefer using their mobile devices and computes for betting to their phones is probably the main reason for this fall.
As for Coral’s retail profits, they dropped by 4%, amounting to £143 million. Company’s over-the-counter turnover fell by £1.2 million and revenue from machine games marked a 6% increase. Gala ended this fiscal year with a total of 1,834 shops.
Eurobet retail profits posted an almost 100% growth, reaching £18.8 million. This was mainly ascribed to the fact that 500 new licenses were issued. Betting stakes increased by 56%. Of those, online stakes marked a 125% increase. Turnover from machine gaming rose 38%.
Revenue from Gala’s retail bingo business remained unchanged, yet earnings grew by 30%, totaling £32.9 million. Here it is important to mention that bingo clubs admissions eventually marked positive results, although they grew only by 1%. In addition, gaming machine turnover posted a 6% increase.
As it was reported, Gala Interactive merged its operations earlier this month. The company appointed The7stars agency to take care of its media planning and the selection of its future acquisitions.
