Bwin reports successful World Cup

VIENNA, Austria -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- In the wake of the 2010 World Cup, bwin, the world's leading publicly listed online gaming provider, has reported record turnover for sports betting compared to previous major soccer events. Up to 260,000 bwin Sportsbook customers a day took advantage of a considerably extended range of betting services during the 2010 Soccer World Cup. A total of around 900,000 customers placed bets during the World Cup, about 213,000 of them active for the first time. The Company was also able to successfully reactivate existing customers: some 90,000 customers took advantage of the bwin product portfolio again after over six months.

Compared to the EURO 2008, bwin increased sports betting gross gaming revenues (GGR, betting stakes less customer winnings) by nearly 40 per cent to an average of over 1.1 million Euro a day. This figure was almost doubled by comparison with the 2006 World Cup. A sports betting margin of around 9.1 per cent was an improvement on both the EURO 2008 (8.3 per cent) and the 2006 World Cup (6.7 per cent).

The most popular World Cup games with bwin customers with the largest number of bets placed included the semi-final with Germany against Spain, followed by the final with Netherlands against Spain and the semi-final with Uruguay against the Nether-lands. The most popular bet was the three-way bet (1-X-2) in the Round of 16 with Netherlands against Slovakia.

Successful launch in France

On 8 June 2010, in good time for the World Cup, bwin was the only international online gaming provider to enter the French market with a sports betting and poker licence. Norbert Teufelberger, bwin Co-CEO, commented: "The first month of our market launch in France was promising despite taxation rates that are still currently high. Even now it is becoming apparent that past investment in our brand, technology and organization is beginning to pay off. Only a small group of providers is – and will be – in a position to meet the exacting demands of a regulated market." As was the case in Italy, in France, too, it was extremely important to be present in the market right from the word go, and to invest heavily in customer acquisition: it is either very difficult or very expensive to make up lost ground at a later date. "Due to the successful regulation of the market in Italy and France for customers, authorities and providers alike, we anticipate that other countries will soon follow this," concludes Teufelberger.