bwin revenues up 20% in 9M

bwin Interactive Entertainment AG reported increased gross gaming revenues of EUR 248 mln in the first nine months of 2007, a rise of 20% (excluding Turkey) compared to the same period the previous year (excluding US and Turkish operations).

Reporting a sports betting margin of 8.4% gross gaming revenues from sports betting (excl. Turkey) rose by 14.6% compared to the first nine months of 2006 to EUR 132.3 mln. The gross gaming revenues (excl. Turkey) generated from the poker, casino and games sectors amounted to EUR 60.5 mln (Q1-Q3 2006: EUR 42.2 mln), EUR 44.9 mln (EUR 41 mln) and EUR 10.3 mln (EUR 8.1 mln) respectively.

The development of both active and new active real-money customers in the first nine months of 2007 was affected by a significant reduction in the marketing budget, and by the absence of a major event like the previous year’s Soccer World Championships. The latter had an impact particularly on the growth of new customers. Furthermore, the marketing mix in the first nine months of 2007 was not optimal due to the inertia effects of sports sponsoring.

However, a rising trend has been observed for both active and new active customers since Q3 2007.

Compared to Q2 2007, the number of active customers rose 9.0% to 827,000. A total of 192,000 of these customers became active for the first time (Q2 2007: 173,000), an increase of 10.8% compared to the Q2 2007.