Greek lottery and betting operator OPAP reported record online gambling revenue in the second quarter but it wasn’t enough to arrest the company’s pandemic freefall.  

Figures released Thursday show OPAP generated gross gaming revenue of €179.6m in the three months ending June 30, a 53.2% decline from the same period last year. Net gaming revenue was down 54.4% to €118m, earnings slid 81.7% to €16.2m and the company booked a net loss of €15.1m versus a €34.6m profit in Q2 2019.  

OPAP was forced to close its retail operations – including its highly lucrative video lottery terminal (VLT) network – in mid-March, which the company said at the time would mean a 99% overall revenue reduction. Retail operations began to resume in early June, rescuing the company from what otherwise would have been an even grimmer result.

The mainstay lottery division saw its revenue fall 45% to €103m. That decline would have been much worse were it not for the new online version of the Tzoker (Joker) product that the company said continued to rise even after the retail reopening, although it got a wind-assist from a series of jackpot rollovers.