Monthly Archives: June 2018

Betfred reports annual loss despite retail revenue rise

UK bookmaker Betfred swung to an eight-figure loss in its most recent fiscal year despite a significant revenue gain.

This week, the privately held Betfred released its results for the 12 months ending September 24, 2017, which showed revenue improving 9.6% to £634.5m while earnings rose 3% to £83.3m. Total gambling turnover across Betfred’s retail, online and Tote divisions was up 17.5% to £12.7b.

The revenue improvement came largely via the company’s October 2016 addition of 322 Ladbrokes Coral betting shops, its Totepoool business signing a commingling deal with the Hong Kong Jockey Club as well as an unspecified rise in its online customer base.

Regulus Partners analysts estimated that Betfred’s online revenue improved 3% year-on-year to £90m, while the Tote improved 12% to £329m, although some of that latter figure was shared with Betfred’s B2B partners.

Betfred reports annual loss despite retail revenue rise

UK bookmaker Betfred swung to an eight-figure loss in its most recent fiscal year despite a significant revenue gain.

This week, the privately held Betfred released its results for the 12 months ending September 24, 2017, which showed revenue improving 9.6% to £634.5m while earnings rose 3% to £83.3m. Total gambling turnover across Betfred’s retail, online and Tote divisions was up 17.5% to £12.7b.

The revenue improvement came largely via the company’s October 2016 addition of 322 Ladbrokes Coral betting shops, its Totepoool business signing a commingling deal with the Hong Kong Jockey Club as well as an unspecified rise in its online customer base.

Regulus Partners analysts estimated that Betfred’s online revenue improved 3% year-on-year to £90m, while the Tote improved 12% to £329m, although some of that latter figure was shared with Betfred’s B2B partners.

Asian police vie for World Cup of Betting Crackdown trophy

Online gambling operator 12Bet has been linked to an operation by Vietnamese police targeting unapproved betting on the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Late Friday night, Vietnamese media reported that Ho Chi Minh City police had arrested four individuals linked to an online gambling ring that handled over BND600b (US$26.2m) in wagers since police began monitoring the ring’s activities last year.

While the ring reportedly handled its wagers through the Philippines-licensed 12Bet, its customers used online banking to purchase ‘virtual credits’ from the organizers, who then placed the wagers on the customers’ behalf.

In addition to the four principals, police searched the homes of another four suspects, seizing computers, phones and over VND300m in cash.

World Cup pushes China’s sports lottery to record sales

China’s sports lottery is getting a serious boost from the 2018 FIFA World Cup, even without state-approved online sales channels.

According to the official China Sports Lottery website, sales for the week of June 11-17 totaled RMB7.33b (US$1.13b). The results reflect proceeds from the first few days of World Cup action, which kicked off on June 14. The sales total is 126% higher than the same week in 2014, the most recent World Cup year.

Looking at the first three days of World Cup action shows a distinct upward trend. June 14’s sales totaled RMB1.6b, rising to RMB2b on the 15th and then RMB2.3b on the 16th. Each day’s total represents a new record since the sports lottery launched in 2009.

The growth in this year’s World Cup lottery sales is all the more impressive given that sales are now entirely land-based, as the government suspended all official online sales in early 2015. The suspension followed an audit which revealed that many provincial lottery administration centers weren’t reporting all online sales while pocketing the difference.