Online gambling operator 888 Holdings saw its shares jump by nearly one-third after announcing that its casino and poker products appeared to be enjoying a coronavirus-related spike.

On Monday, the UK-listed 888 announced that it would delay the release of its preliminary 2019 financial results based on a request from the Financial Conduct Authority. On Tuesday, 888 released a ‘COVID-19 Trading Update’ that offered a rosy snapshot of its performance in the year-to-date.

888 said the strong momentum it enjoyed at the close of 2019 had continued into the current year, with trading through March 18 up 18% from the comparable prior year period. While the company said its casino and sports verticals were both up around 24% year-on-year, it noted that the recent cancellations of major sporting events would negatively impact betting revenue going forward. Sports accounted for 16% of 888’s 2019 revenue.

888 added that it was seeing “evidence of increased customer activity” in its casino and poker verticals “that might, in part, compensate for the sports betting disruption for a period of time.” However, the company noted that “a prolonged period of global macro-economic uncertainty” caused by the coronavirus pandemic could negatively impact customer spending in the non-betting verticals.