Press Release- A new online gaming consultancy company, iGamingConsult.com, has been launched to meet the product & marketing needs of leading online gaming companies. 

Managing Partner, Enda Gaffney, commented ‘The online gaming industry has never been so competitive with operators facing unprecedented competition in the marketplace.  We offer a range of added value services designed to increase customer acquisition and retention. Our focus is on developing the product and marketing strategies of our clients.

One of the key added value services that we offer clients is a product & marketing analysis of their competition in the market. Players have never had so much choice in where to play with endless offers & features provided to meet their needs. It is important for operators to be aware of what their competition is doing and what they are doing well to help grow their business.

Our work is designed to act as an added value service to operators and to provide them with a centralised point of information on their competitors, new campaigns, new strategies. Customer acquisition and retention is paramount to the success of any operator and we feel we help our clients to achieve this goal. Our clients all have different positioning in the market but all have the common goal of looking to increase their customer base and in a cost effective manner. 

Sports Betting, Casino, Poker & Bingo represent our main channels but we are currently expanding into Games & Financial Trader products in order to offer our clients a complete offering.'

888 has released their trading update for the first quarter of 2009 reporting an overall revenue drop of 4% to USm compared to its previous quarter of Q4 2008 reflecting the current economic recession and increased competition in the marketplace. 

888’s split their KPI’s for Q1 2009 between their Business-to-Customer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) lines of their business.  

Total Operating Income for B2C came in at USm, a decrease of 8% due mainly to a disappointing March trading. Casino revenues came in at USm, a drop of 10% from the previous quarter. Poker revenues were also down 6% to USm while Emerging Offering revenues, which includes sports betting, bingo and skill games, remained unchanged at USm. 

Active customer numbers across Casino and Poker channels decreased by 7% and 3% respectively reflecting an overall drop in customer activity for Q1 2009. 

Performance in 888’s Business-to-Customer division was offset by an increase in its new B2B division which showed a 13% increase in revenue to USm which was highlighted by the firms new white label deal with the UK’s Racing Post.  

Key operational highlights for the first 3 months of 2009 saw the launch of a new Bingo TV campaign to stimulate growth in the product; the launch of ‘Poker Ashes, a televised poker tournament aimed at the Australian and UK market comprising two large scale poker leagues across hundreds of pubs; the launch of a Live Casino targeted at European customers; release of a soft games/quick play games tab suite comprising 30 casual games; new Poker version launched incorporating 25 new features and design changes such as time bank, quick seat, hand history and money transfer between accounts.  

Overall the 888’s Group financial position remains strong with US0m cash and no debt leaving the group in a prime position to exploit viable Merger & Acquisition opportunities.  

Commenting on the interim results for Q1, Gigi Levy, Chief Executive Officer, said  

‘Our B2B business continued to show strong growth during the first quarter of 2009. Trading in B2C continued to be challenging reflecting the weak economic backdrop. Despite monthly sequential growth in January and February trading in March was weaker. Whilst we are encouraged by improved trading in April across all our lines of business we now start to enter the historically quieter seasonal period. However, our various business initiatives are progressing well, including our developing B2B offering and we therefore expect to grow the business further during the year’

William Hill Plc has announced good progress in their interim management statement for Q1 2009.

 
Overall net revenue increased by 6.5% reflecting the company’s expanded online business partnership with Playtech as opposed to their standalone interactive business.

In their overview, Hills reported that the overall performance during the period remained resilient. However horse-racing had a significant influence on trading with bad weather leading to the cancellation of approximately one third of scheduled UK horse race meetings at the start of the year and, in March, horse-racing results going strongly in the customers’ favour, including during the Cheltenham Festival.

However, April proved more fruitful for Hills with horse-racing results swinging back in favour of the bookmakers, helped by a good Grand National result! Both Cheltenham and Aintree proved to be as popular as in previous years, both key events for bookmakers’ turnover.

Net revenue from the expanded William Hill Online business increased by 50% in the period, compared with the standalone William Hill interactive business in 2008, following the completion of the acquisition of Playtech’s online gaming, marketing and customer service assets on 30 December 2008..

Hills launched their new Sportsbook on the Orbis technology platform in December 2008 to provide an improved offering in a very competitive marketplace.They indicate that net revenue was similar to the comparable period in 2008. They also report an encouraging growth in customer accounts and a double-digit growth in the number of slips and in turnover following a substantial increase in the number of markets and products offered to customers on the Sportsbook.

In their gaming division, net revenue increased by 77%. In January and February, Hills launched their stand-alone casino and poker websites on Playtech’s software and the iPoker network. All Hills poker is now run on Playtech’s i-Poker network and the firm expect to migrate their main William Hill casino to Playtech software later in the year.

Hill’s most disappointing division was it’s tele-betting where gross win fell by 31% in the first quarter reflecting poor horse-racing results at Cheltenham and increased competition from overseas operators. The channel represents 3% of the Groups’ net revenue.

Commenting on the interim results for Q1, Ralph Topping, Chief Executive of William Hill, said ‘Although the economic and competitive environment remains challenging, our results show continuing resilience. Integration of our online business is progressing, with an encouraging increase in the number of customer accounts, and we look forward to reaping the full benefits of this developing business’