As the entire world faced extreme challenges in 2020, that year was still a good one for online gambling as a whole. In fact, online casinos, betting sites, and poker rooms surprisingly saw a significant increase in traffic.
888 Holdings, the parent company of 888poker brand, has enjoyed a substantial spike in online traffic during the lockdown, and the markedly increased revenue allowed them to invest more funds towards ad campaigns, widen the range of their offers and create more tournament events geared to make their players happy.
Financial Highlights
In its financial report for the first half of 2020, 888 enjoyed an increase in revenues that reached over $36 million. For them, this is nearly twice more when compared to the same period in 2019 and even when compared to the last three years.
Group revenue increased 37% to US$379.1 million (H1 2019: US$277.3 million).
- 888casino revenue increased 48% to US$260.0 million (H1 2019: US$175.4 million).
- 888poker revenue increased 56% to US$36.1 million (H1 2019: US$23.1 million).
- 888sport revenue decreased 1% to US$44.1 million (H1 2019: US$44.5 million); better than expected customer reaction to the gradual return of sports events in the summer with Sport revenue during June 59% ahead of the prior year.
CEO of 888 Itai Pazner commented, "888 has performed very well throughout the first half of 2020 with robust year-on-year growth in revenue and Adjusted EBITDA of 37% and 56% respectively. This outcome reflects the Group's continued strong levels of customer acquisition, general consumer trends towards increased use of online services especially during the COVID-19 lockdown period and 888's relentless focus on product leadership.
We recognized early on that the COVID-19 pandemic would have a material impact on the lives of our customers across many global markets and this required an appropriate response from 888. We were therefore quick to increase our vigilance on safe gambling and preventing gambling-related harm.
We are pleased with our continued progress in the US where revenue increased by 90% year-on-year reflecting the Group's outstanding B2C growth in New Jersey as well as strong performances from our B2B partners. We remain excited by the potentially significant medium-to-long-term opportunities for 888 in the US market.
888 is looking forward to delivering further product enhancements including the introduction of our new poker product across markets during H2 2020 and the launch of our proprietary sportsbook in the UK early next year. In addition, we are continuing to invest in safe gambling tools and will begin the roll-out of a new customer-centric safe gambling feature called the 'Control Centre' later this year that will offer customers an improved interface to help them understand better their gambling behavior.
As a result of the Group's continued momentum, as well as its strengths as a product-centric, responsible and diversified operator, the Board believes that 888 has a unique platform to deliver continued strategic progress during H2 and beyond."
‘Overwhelming Demand for Online Poker caught us Slightly Unprepared'
In a post-close trading update released on January 14, 2021, 888 Holdings announced that it finished 2020 on a high.
The revenue and active customer numbers for the month of December 2020 were some of the best they have ever seen, though the final figures won't be released until March 2021, according to the operator.
888 CEO Itai Pazner said back in the summer, "Poker was definitely the surprising vertical of the period, with many players shifting from physical poker games to online and a product that has a strong recreational nature and represents very good value for time spent on it.
We saw an overwhelming increase in new players and activity in poker, which caught us slightly unprepared and required us to upgrade and expand our poker servers in order to deal with increased levels of activity which we managed to do in a fast and efficient way."
Why You Should Check Out 888poker
There are many reasons why people all over the world play online poker, and here is a quick list that shows why you should check out 888poker!
- More than 10 million registered members worldwide
- New player sign-up every 12 seconds
- Online gaming industry forerunner and pioneer of safe and responsible gaming since 1997
- Big selection of games, high value tournaments and exciting live events around the globe
- EU licensed and regulated
