Bet365 Record Profit in Australia for the First Time

Bet365 is one of the world’s biggest online gambling companies. The company boasts annual revenues of close to £1.5 billion and employs more than 3,000 at its headquarters in Stoke on Trent, England. Since its foundation in 2000, the UK based company has grown into one of the most well respected online gambling companies in the world by offering an excellent range of sports betting, casino games, poker and bingo to over 19 million customers in almost 200 countries. Their global success, however, has failed to extend to Australia where the company has recorded annual losses for the last five years. The bosses at Bet365 will be hopeful that their fortunes ‘down under’ have finally changed as they’ve posted their first ever profit in the region.

First Profits

Despite their reputation as one of the market leaders in the online gambling industry Bet365 has so far failed to establish themselves as major players in Australia. The company first launched its platform in the region in 2012 but has only just become profitable, although just barely. In the 12-month period ending March 26th Bet365 Australia recorded a meagre pre-tax profit of just A$1.2m (US $960k). The profit has been credited to the site’s increasing customer numbers as well as cost cutting measures such as decreasing a “levy expense” paid to racing and sporting bodies by A$1m. Papers filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission show that the Australian branch of the online gambling company posted betting revenue totalling A$101.4m for the period.

That figure was a 5% increase in revenue on the last fiscal year but Bet365’s earnings still pale in comparison to Aussie online gambling market leaders Paddy Power. Over the same period, the Irish bookmakers posted revenues of almost five times that of Bet365. Bet365 Australia’s total turnover amounted to A$2.5b, about 17% of the country’s online gambling market.

A Difficult Market to Crack

Australia is a notoriously difficult online gaming market to break into. Bet365 were somewhat late to launch their platform in the territory only making their platform available to Australian players in 2012. In the 5 years since, Bet365 Australia has accumulated losses totalling A$128 million. In 2014 the company recorded a net loss of A$41m while this was reduced in 2015 to A$10.9m. Despite this, the company directors are hopeful that now that Bet365’s Australian branch has finally recorded its first profit it will continue to grow and be profitable. Customer numbers at Bet365 Australia have grown year on year and the company is “committed to maintaining the present level of operations” to facilitate continued growth. Overall the Australian arm of Bet365 is only a small part of their global operation which recorded an annual profit of £448m last year.

Bet365 Australia, along with their competitors, will face a number of new challenges in the coming year with the introduction of several new gambling laws and regulations in Australia. The Australian gambling industry is set to be hit with further restrictions on television advertising and the imposition of a national point of consumption tax.

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