Coral shuts High Roller service after £10m hit
Special service for high-staking Online and Telebet punters curtailed after reporting significant loss in Q3
Coral has closed its High Roller service for large staking punters after suffering losses of more than £10m during the third quarter of the year.
According to parent company Gala Coral’s Q3 report, which was publish last week, the pool of online and telephone customers using the service had set the company back £9.3m in net revenues for the year-to-date, resulting in an EBITDA loss of £7.6m.
However, the firm’s High Roller service had reported a £1.1m profit at the half-year mark, pointing to a £10.4m loss during the 12-week period ended 4 July.
eGaming Review understands the operator also lost a substantial sum to high staking customers across the previous accounting year, with one punter believed to have cost the firm around £8m, although this loss is not referenced in its 2013-14 report.
The losses were enough to lead Gala Coral to terminate the service with the firm noting “[High Roller] is not core to the Coral business and the board has now discontinued this activity”.
High Roller had been considered one of Gala Coral eight ‘segments’, along with Coral Retail, Eurobet Retail, Online, Gala Retail, Telebet, Corporate and Gala Casino, the last of which was recently sold-off.
When contacted by eGR, Gala Coral declined to offer any further detail behind the decision to pull High Roller or details of the service offered but did confirm no roles would be impacted by the move.
Providing a service to attract and accommodate large staking punters is common practice at operators with customers usually given inducements such as a direct line through to traders, higher online betting limits, a credit facility and enhanced and/or back prices.
Despite the loss, the Gala Coral’s online arm still managed to post a 37% hike in revenues and 28% growth in profits with revenues from the Coral sportsbook doubling during the 12-week period.
Gala Coral recently agreed terms on a merger with rival Ladbrokes, with the deal currently being scrutinised by the UK Competition and Markets Authority. Ladbrokes has set about trying to increase its pool of recreational punters, which its CEO Jim Mullen defined as those who stake around £5 per bet.