Bwin.party hit by 'predictable' Euro 2012

Online gaming firm bwin.party says it has been hit by weak poker revenues and the lack of shock results at the Euro 2012 football championship.

Bwin.party has a portfolio of online gaming businesses, across several geographies, and is particularly pleased with the launch of its new Spanish sites, that it says give it a top three market position in the country.

However, trading has been affected by "continued pressures" on online poker, while Euro 2012 did not deliver the hoped for profits because of "the majority of results following the predicted path." In other words, punters bet on Spain, and Spain won.

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Poker revenues were hit, firstly, by the distraction of Euro 2012, but also by the emergence of Zoom Poker on the PokerStars platform.

All this bad news has left the trading performance only "broadly" in line with expectations and there are further headaches on the way.

Bwin is likely to face additional sports betting taxes in the German market which will hit full year earnings by around €5-10m. On top of that, the group will have to invest more in its social gaming initiative.

We'll get more detailed numbers from bwin.party when it publishes its full half year results at the end of August.

BS