Hot off the presses, GVC Holdings PLC, one of the largest sports gambling and gaming groups in the world, has released its latest financial update, which covers the first quarter of the year. According to the Financial Times, the company has seen increases across the board and expects to see continued growth, despite the recent changes in the UK regarding fixed odd betting terminals (FOBT).

The company has reported growth of 8% on its net gaming revenue for the quarter, driven by better performance in virtual sports and gaming bets. That improvement in online operations helped to offset losses incurred due to the changes in the UK, where retail revenue for GVC remained flat and online revenue increased by 17%.

According to GVC CEO Kenneth Alexander, “This trading update reflects a continuation of the strong trends reported on 5 March 2019, and represents an excellent start to the year. We continue to see good volume growth across all major online brands and territories and we remain very confident of achieving our target of double-digit online NGR growth. The impact of soft gross win margins in Italy and the UK was offset by improved margins in other territories, demonstrating the benefit of both geographic and product diversification across the Group. In UK Retail and European Retail, improved sports wagering growth helped offset softer sports gross win margins. New B2 machines stakes restrictions were implemented in the UK on 1 April 2019 and we expect it to be several weeks before we can start to assess the impact. At this early stage of the year, the Board is confident of delivering EBITDA and operating profit in-line with expectations.”

As of April 1, FOBTs in the UK had to have a maximum wager amount of £2, down from the £100 previously allowed. The change has already been shown as ineffective, much to the surprise of virtually no one, and it won’t be long before any temporary losses due to the switch are recuperated through other mechanisms.