Interactive
Czech – Fortuna reports slight increase in first quarter
By Phil - 12 May 2015
Czech-based operator Fortuna Entertainment saw its revenues increase by 3.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2015 due to an improvement in the performance of its sports betting operations.
GGR reached €35.4m with sports betting generating €33.3m and online betting €19.9m, the latter being up 22.9 per cent. Its land-based betting operations generated €13.4m.
Per Widerstrom, Chief Executive Officer of Fortuna, said: “In the first quarter of 2015, the company continued to deliver strong growth in amounts staked and we accepted €199.3m of bets, which is 20.2 per cent more than last year. The amounts staked grew double digits in all our key markets, primarily driven by the on-line betting growth. In terms of gross win, we have, as expected, been negatively impacted by the abolishment of the online handling fee in Slovakia as well as by unfavourable sporting results, mainly in football, in March.”
The group’s amounts Staked for the first quarter of 2015 was €199.3m, a solid 20.2 per cent year-on-year increase. This growth was driven primarily by the double-digit growth in on-line betting in all the countries where Fortuna operates. The amount staked on sports betting reached €194.6m in the first quarter of 2015, a 20.1 per cent improvement on the first quarter of 2014. The amount staked on lottery betting in the first quarter of 2015 totalled €4.7m, a 23.7 per cent year-on-year increase.
In the first quarter of 2015, the total gross win reached €35.4m, an increase of 3.7 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2014. The company stated: “The gross win in the first quarter 2015 was impacted by the abolishment of the handling fee on on-line betting in Slovakia, which apart from the absence of the fee led to an acceleration of online live betting growth and migration from retail to online which implies further gross win margin pressure. Also, the company´s gross win in the first quarter was affected by unfavourable sporting results in March 2015.
The gross win from sports betting was €33.3m, a three per cent increase year-on-year. Of this figure, the gross win from on-line betting in the first quarter of 2015 increased to €19.9m, a substantial increase of 22.9 per cent over the same period of 2014. The gross win from retail betting in the first quarter of 2015 amounted to €13.4m. In the first quarter of 2015, the gross win from the lottery business was €2m, a 17.2 per cent growth over the same period of last year.
Originally a Czech firm, Fortuna has grown into a holding company over time, and it now also operates on the Slovak, Polish and Hungarian markets.
