British gaming and sports betting company GVC Holdings published its financial results for the first half of this calendar year.
According to the information released, sports wagers rose 19% year-on-year to reach €823 million. In comparison, the amount of €694 million was posted for the six-month period ended June 30, 2014. Aggregate sports margin was 8.9% compared to 9.9% for 2014. The drop was attributed to bettor-friendly results over the past six months.
The company also pointed out that its net gaming revenue showed strong performance during the first half of the year. It rose 14% compared to the same period a year ago to reach €120 million.
In addition to this, customer deposits also marked a significant increase of €1.7 million per day, up 18% year-on-year. By comparison, the amount €1.5 million was posted for the first half of 2014.
GVC said that it was particularly pleased with its results for the second quarter of the year. Sports wagers increased 16% to €412.3 million or a daily average of €4.5 million. Net gaming revenue for the period in review totaled €661,000 per day compared to €602,000 in the second quarter of 2014. This upward trend was particularly noticeable in June. The company posted higher net gaming revenue than what was generated in June 2014, when the FIFA World Cup took place.
Customer deposits totaled €160.8 million in the second quarter of the year, up 17.5% year-on-year.
During the first half of the year, GVC announced that it was interested in buying online gambling company bwin.party digital entertainment plc for the amount of £900 million. If the latter company agrees on the deal, the purchase will be financed jointly by both GVC and Canadian gambling giant Amaya, Inc. Although there have been continuing talks on the matter, bwin.party has repeatedly pointed out that they might not eventually result in a transaction being completed.
GVC also commented on the current situation in Greece, where the company has a presence via Centric Multimedia S.A. Currently, the movement of funds is restricted within and outside the country and GVC pointed out that there has been a certain decrease in player activity due to this. It also said that it would monitor the events closely. However, the company considered it too early to provide any forecast on whether there will be any financial or other implications for it and its Greek partner during the second half of the year.
