Bwin buoyant despite slower quarter

Bwin stated that the third quarter is traditionally the weakest for sportsbetting due to the reduced number of sporting events, particularly after the European Championship. Despite this, it revealed that gross gaming revenues had increased 11.2 % for the period to us$ 121.1 million from us$ 108.8 million while gross sportsbetting revenues increased 7.7 % to us$ 64.4 million, a margin of 7.4 % from last year’s 8.5 %. It also reported 892,000 active customers, a rise of 7.9 %, alongside 186,000 new active real-money customers, a 3.1 % decline.

The gaming giant stated that it would report adjusted earnings before tax of us$ 12.1 million, which was down from the us$ 19.1 million it made from 2007’s third quarter, while its results after tax would be us$ 8.8 million, up on last year’s us$ 6.4 million.

As the current financial crisis begins to bite, Bwin revealed that it would undertake a “consolidation phase” in parallel with a cost-cutting program in order to achieve significantly improved results for next year. The firm revealed that this would involve a reduction in brand-building expenses alongside a reorganization of its structure, particularly in the areas of IT and operations.

“Over and above this, Bwin focuses even more strongly on its existing markets while, at the same time, pursuing a less aggressive expansion of its product pipeline,” read a statement from the Austrian firm.

“Projects with a return on investment of more than a year will, therefore, be postponed in favor of maximizing cashflow. Intensified quality management coupled with the reinforcement of innovative processes will enable Bwin to steadily develop new products. This will eliminate parallel developments and optimize the product life cycle.”