Bet365 beats £2bn revenue mark

Bet365 surpassed the £2bn annual revenue milestone for the first time during the 12 months to March 26, 2017, and also achieved year-on-year operating and pre-tax profit growth.

Full-year revenue came in at £2.15bn (€2.44bn/$2.83bn), up 39% from £1.65bn in the previous 12-month period, according to a report and financial statements released by the company this week.

Operating profit climbed 15% from £456m to £503m, while pre-tax profit was also up from £459m to £514m.

Bet365 also noted a 27% year-on-year increase on the amount that its customers wagered on sports, while the number of active players jumped 35%.

According to the Racing Post, Denise Coates, joint chief executive of the group with her brother John, cited the impact of the Euro 2016 national team football tournament as one of the main reasons behind the increase in key financials.

Coates also highlighted product enhancements such as the new ‘Edit My Bet’ and ‘Auto Cash Out’ options as key selling points for customers, as well as additions to live content, with the operator now able to stream 140,000 events each year.

In addition, Coates is keen for the company to continue with its expansion plans and build on licences in the UK, Spain, Denmark, Italy, Gibraltar, Malta, Ireland, Australia, Bulgaria and Cyprus.

“Given the group’s experience in regulated markets it believes it is well placed to benefit long-term in those countries where sensible regulation is adopted.” said Coates.

Coates also spoke out about Bet365’s commitment to protecting its customers, saying the company “recognises its responsibility to minimise gambling-related harm and to keep crime out of gambling”.

Coates went on saying: “The group is committed to developing an evidence-based approach to responsible gambling; to this end, the group continues to work with research partners on a number of projects to improve its methods of identifying harmful play and deliver more effective harm-minimisation interventions.

The group has also invested in the development of its own predictive algorithms in order to improve the accuracy and reach of existing measures.The scope and reach of Bet365’s predictive system has been expanded with the addition of new markers of potential harm. In addition, a refined set of harm-minimisation interventions has been developed.”