Bet365 full-year revenues soar 39% to £2.2bn
Operator's 2016-17 accounts reveal a 27% rise in total sports wagers, while the firm’s operating profit also increased 15% to £514m
Bet365 has smashed the £2bn full-year revenue barrier for the first time after recording a substantial 39% year-on-year rise in online betting and gaming revenues, the company’s 2016-17 accounts have revealed.
The sports betting giant reported revenues of £2.2bn for the year ended 26 March 2017 in its annual accounts, filed yesterday via Companies House, with operating profit also increasing 15% to £514m.
Total sports wagers were up 27% year-on-year during the 12-month period, while the number of active customers soared 35% and revenues from bet365’s mobile sports product increased 61%.
The Stoke-headquartered firm’s formidable live betting business also continued to perform strongly, representing 72% of total sports revenues.
Meanwhile, cash at bank and in hand in the period was reported as £1.4bn, up from £1.1bn the previous year.
Denise Coates, bet365’s joint chief executive, said the Group’s strong full-year performance was helped by a successful Euro 2016, a fall in the value of sterling and numerous product enhancements.
“Trading under the bet365 brand, the Group’s Sports offering continued to benefit from a number of product-enhancing developments and investment during the period. These included the launch of ‘Edit My Bet’ and ‘Auto Cash Out’,” Coates said.
She added: “Additions to ‘Live Streaming’ content, including US horseracing, saw the number of live sporting events streamed in the period extended to around 140,000.
“Marketing expenditure again increased, helping to maintain the ‘bet365’ brand’s class-leading position, notably with bet365’s sponsorship of Sky’s Friday and Monday night English Premier League programmes.”
Bet365 was crowned Operator of the Year at last month’s EGR Operator Awards 2017
According to its accounts, the bet365 Group employed 3,712 staff during the year to 26 March 2017, up from 3,177 in the corresponding period the previous year.
Separate to its sports betting and gaming business, the Premier League football club owned by bet365, Stoke City, contributed a loss of £10.2m compared to an £8.5m profit in 2015-16.
The Group also made charitable contributions during the period of £50.7m (£20.6m the previous year), donating £50m to the Denise Coates Foundation.
The release of bet365’s 2016-17 accounts follow a successful few weeks for the sports betting behemoth which was recently crowned Operator of the Year at the EGR Operator Awards 2017.
The company also retained its number one position in EGR‘s Power 50 rankings due in large part to its record financial numbers.