Smartphone spike boosts Probability results
Sharp rise in smartphone users helping to "turn mobile from a niche into a mass market opportunity", says CEO Charles Cohen.
Mobile gambling specialist Probability saw net gaming revenues climb 14% following a spike in smartphone users “helping to turn mobile from a niche into a mass market opportunity”, its CEO said this morning.
Announcing its full year audited results for the year ended 31 March 2011, Charles Cohen said the company “made real strides this year” due to its move to Gibraltar that resulted in “lower operating costs”, a boost in iPhone and Android usage and an increase in customer acquisition for LadyLuck’s, the group’s primary UK facing brand. This contributed to NGR rising 14% to £5.37m compared to £4.72m for the same period last year.
NGR was 45.3% higher in the final quarter of this financial year than in the equivalent period of the previous financial year, the company said in a statement to the stock exchange.
Probability saw 175,000 new mobile customer registrations in the year while spend per player increased with average deposits per depositor 54% higher than in the year to March 2010, due to “improved real-time mobile CRM and enhanced game portfolio”, it said.
The overall loss for the year was £1.1m (before tax) after fully expensing one-off items which included the move to Gibraltar and consequent restructuring (around £700,000).
The company’s “core consumer offering” grew rapidly in the second half it said, boosted by the introduction of new games for iPhone and Android users, as well as increased marketing spend following the completion of a planned investment in its proprietary mobile gambling technology. iPhone and Android customers represented 37% of in-game deposits in March 2011. The company said that this figure has “continued to increase since the end of the period”.
In July this year the business enjoyed record revenues, with more than £1m in cash deposits from players for the first time. In the same month it announced a deal with Mexican-based casino, racing and bingo specialist Grupo Caliente, allowing Probability to provide its mobile offering to customers in the Latin American market.
Cohen added that as a result of “significantly lower” monthly fixed overheads in the UK and Gibraltar and additional margin improvements in its trading activity that its business model was “stronger than ever”.
“With consumer appetite for smartphones and mobile services seemingly insatiable, the sun is shining for us,” he added.