Interactive
UK – Sky Betting sky high after almost doubling revenues
By Phil - 27 March 2018
Leeds-based Sky Betting & Gaming has reported a 47 per cent increase in revenue to £339m for the six months to December 28 due to favourable sports results and a 19 per cent increase in customer to 2m.
Sky Bet grew its revenue by 58 per cent from £133m to £210m whilst Sky Gaming increased 31 per cent to £117m.
Richard Flint, CEO of Sky Betting & Gaming, stated: “The business continued to perform very well in the first half of 2017/18. Our focus on the customer, and delivering quality experiences, offers and promotions continues to differentiate our brand, and we extended our lead as the UK’s most popular online betting brand. During the period, we continued to enhance our range of markets, products and offers, with more betting options than ever and over 20 exclusive new games launched on our gaming. During the period, we continued to enhance our range of markets, products and offers, with more betting options than ever and over 20 exclusive new games launched on our gaming.
“It was particularly pleasing to launch a fully integrated safer gambling campaign during the period, and we continue to increase our investment in research, data analysis and capability to provide a safe and responsible gambling environment for our customers. We have just enjoyed our busiest ever Cheltenham, with bet volumes peaking at just over 300 bets per second, so with strong momentum in the first half of the year, we will maintain our focus on investment in talent and technology, delivering innovative and quality products and offers to our customers, leaving us confident that we can deliver further growth.”
The company’s growth during the period has seen it create an additional 230 jobs and boost the Yorkshire economy by £300m.
“We are proud of our record of job creation and investment in Yorkshire, with an additional 230 jobs created in the period, as well as our contribution to regional and national taxation,” Mr. Flint explained. “A report by WPI Economics estimates that we contributed over £300m gross value added to the Yorkshire economy in 2016/17, and we plan to continue investing in the region.”
Mr. Flint said the company would also continue to expand overseas.
“During the period, we continued to export our success, with the launch of our second international business Sky Bet Deutschland for German sports betting customers,” he explained. “This business aims to provide the same quality of user experience, range of bets and simplicity to German customers that our UK and Italian customers have come to expect from us.”
