PartyGaming poker drags down group revenue at Q3
PartyGaming's revenue fell in the third quarter of this year despite a significant rise in bingo revenues driven by its acquisition of bingo operator Cashcade, the company's third-quarter results have revealed.
PARTYGAMING’S REVENUE fell in the third quarter of this year despite a significant rise in bingo revenues driven by its acquisition of bingo operator Cashcade, the company’s third-quarter results have revealed.
The Party-Cashcade deal in July was not enough to offset a 31% year-on-year fall in poker revenues for Party, which unveiled a 4% fall in total revenue for the third quarter of 2009 to US$112.7m, from US$117.7m at the same point a year earlier.
Poker revenues for the three months to 30 September 2009 fell to US$45.1m, from US$65m a year earlier, as higher player numbers were offset by the cost of acquisition and retention measures aimed at matching the bonuses on offer at sites benefiting from US liquidity, such as PokerStars and Full Tilt.
Casino revenues for the seasonally weak third quarter rose 8% year-on-year to US$49.2m, from US$45.6m, due to higher player yields.
The company said that a change in the jackpot strategy introduced in the first-half of the year, which increased the maximum potential prize available on jackpot slot machines to over US$4.2m, had proven particularly popular with players.
Bingo revenues rose exponentially to US$13.8m, from US$2m for the comparable three-month period in 2008, due to PartyGaming’s July acquisition of bingo operator Cashcade, owner of the Foxy Bingo brand.
Chief executive Jim Ryan said that although poker remained a “challenging” competitive environment, the company had been encouraged by increased player traffic during September and into October on the back of retention initiatives including an enhanced loyalty programme and automated reactivation campaigns.
Ryan also reiterated the company’s aim, stated at the time of its Cashcade acquisition, to become a top three player in all of its product verticals.
Ryan said: “Having launched sites on behalf of four new customers in the quarter, our B2B strategy is progressing well. The important fourth quarter has started strongly, as expected, and we remain confident about the full-year outlook,” said Ryan.
As reported on EGRmagazine.com, last month Ryan said PartyGaming will pursue an aggressive business-to-business (B2B) strategy in emerging territories to safeguard against local monopolies should emerging regulation be protectionist.
PartyGaming came second in this year’s Power 50 ranking of 50 leading operators.
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