Bwin Posts Strong 2007

Online gambling company, bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, announced its preliminary 2007 results this week, and it appears that it has climbed out of the post-UIGEA haze. 

When comparing results that exclude U.S. and Turkish customers (Turkey implemented its own internet gambling ban), net gaming revenues were up 25.9% in 2007.  Poker was the big winner, up 49.7%, while bwin’s stalwart business, sports betting, increased 23.4%. 

Putting U.S. and Turkey back into the comparative numbers, poker fared poorly, as net poker revenue was down 22.2%.  Sports betting still did well, however, up just a percent lower than it was when the U.S. and Turkey were excluded. 

For the fourth quarter, both sports betting and poker net revnues increased, by 18.8% and 16.6%, respectively.