Supplier News
Austria – Casinos Austria back with record revenues of €3.62bn
By Phil - 10 April 2015
Having provided preliminary results in January, Casinos Austria has now confirmed that 2014 saw a marked growth in the casino, lottery and VLT sectors and brought record sales of €3.62bn and a huge increase in earnings to €41.7m.
Indeed each entity in the overall group comprising Casinos Austria, Austrian Lotteries, Casinos Austria International and the Entertainment subsidiary which handles the group’s online, video lottery terminals and sports betting activities, posted increased sales compared to 2013. The record breaking revenue of €3.62bn represents an increase of 3.34 per cent year-on-year. The group paid out a total of €2.43bn in prize money and winnings in 2014; the largest amount in its history. With total tax payments of €552m, the group also confirmed its role as one of the top five taxpayers in Austria.
It reported great performance in its domestic business and further restructuring successes in its international business, which led to operating results almost doubling to €62.8m.
Chairman Karl Stoss said: “We introduced many measures, launched new products and further increased our efficiency. Strengthened by these extremely gratifying results, we can now continue to work with full force on the future of this great group of companies.”
The year was particularly successful for Casinos Austria in particular. Total investments reached the double digit millions as the company refurbished its casinos in Bregenz, Velden, Salzburg and Vienna, giving each of a brand new look to appeal to contemporary guests. The eight casino restaurants operated by Casinos Austria flourished under the new Cuisino food and beverage (F&B) brand, and the launch of Double Roulette introduced a new variation of the game in which small bets offer the chance to win up to 1,200 times the amount bet. Guests acknowledged all these measures and flocked in increasing numbers to the 12 Austrian casinos, which welcomed a total of 2,504,422 guests in 2014, representing a rise of six per cent year-on-year. Revenues were up by 3.2 per cent to €271m.
Austrian Lotteries saw its revenue increase by 3.3 per cent to an all-time high of more than €3.15bn. This can be attributed in part to the extremely results at the WINWIN Video Lottery Terminals (VLT) subsidiary, where total sales for the year were up by 15.1 per cent to some €635m. Innovative new games such as TeamTipp and Anteilsschein brought a strong increase in sales for the Lotto 6 aus 45 national lottery product to €586m, up 2.4 per cent and a rise in EuroMillions lottery sales to €340m, up 5.4 per cent. The Rubbellos scratch-off lottery games, which introduced a number of new aspects, including two for mobile phones and tablets, saw its revenues increase by seven per cent to €128m.
Casinos Austria International improved its revenues by one per cent year-on-year to €139.1m. The restructuring measures introduced continued to prove their worth and contributed to further enhancing the earnings and revenues situation: all CAI operations further improved their operating performance in 2014, resulting in an operating profit of €866,000.
