Online betting behemoth Bet365 has reported in its annual report for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019, that it has gained revenue amounting to £2.98bn (or $3.92bn), which signifies year-on-year growth of 9.7%.
After taxes have been deducted, this leaves an incredible profit of £681.7m ($896m). Compared to last year, this is a substantial increase of 16%.
It is of note that because Bet365 is a private company, it can select what account information they want to make public. However, one crucial piece of information it did emphasize was an annual increase of 23% in its active customers. Bet365’s betting handle for the year was £64.5bn ($84.5bn), which represents a year-on-year rise of 23%.
One of the primary drivers behind the rise in betting revenue was the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which is always a major betting event when it comes around every four years.
Other areas that are being given credit as being catalysts to this remarkable success include the considerable investment the company made in producing proprietary game content, as well as the introduction of different native apps across different regions. The company is targeting the burgeoning online gambling market in the United States and other regulated regions.
Live betting was also responsible for 79% of the company’s revenue. Betting revenue from mobile devices rose by 18%. In the year before that, this metric rose by 29%, which stresses how bettors are continuing to make the transition from desktop to mobile.
Direct costs as a whole were down 11.5% to £359.8m (or $473m). An additional 636 employees were hired during the most recent financial year, bringing the total size of Bet365’s workforce to 4,646.
In November 2018, a meaningful remuneration package was handed to Bet365 CEO Denise Coates. She received a wage of £265m (or $348m), as well as dividends. This payout made Coates the highest-paid female CEO in the history of corporate Britain. It also is double the wages of all players under contract at Stoke City FC, an English soccer club owned by the Coates family.
There was also an inquiry into allegations that Bet365 was paying cash rebates to losing gamblers. The rebates were supposedly worth up to 10% of losses. This scandal was exposed through an undercover investigation by the Daily Mail team.
If a Bet365 player reached a certain net loss threshold, they would also be in with a chance of winning tickets to sporting events. The company answered these allegations, highlighting its approach to protecting problem gamblers.
