First quarter success for online gambling group Unibet displays the continued growth of online casinos and the internet gambling industry.  The Malta and UK based group published an awesome first quarter with an increasing in gross win revenues from GBP 21.6 million in 2007 to GBP 31.3 million this year. 

Unfortunately, pre-tax profits suffered a significant drop from GBP 8.8 million in the first quarter of last year to a mere GBP 2.9 million the quarter.  The Euro 100 million bond that Unibet used to purchase the bingo operator Maria Holdings last year created a GBP 5.6 million currency exchange loss.
 
Sports betting margins depicted a minor decline from last year to 9.4 percent, as opposed to last years first quarter where it brought in 11.3 percent.  Most declines were attributed to business in Sweden 5.3 percent.  Online casinos continued to show growth.

But, at the end of the financial day, Unibet definitely showed positive growth for the opening of 2008.  CEO Petter Nylander has proudly marked the rise in gross wins and operating profit.

“The EBITDA for the first quarter includes a foreign exchange gain on operating items of GBP 2.4 million,” said Nylander.

“With marketing costs under control and the operational integration of Maria Holdings substantially completed according to plan, together with our new site launched in all markets, we are now focused on achieving the financial targets for 2010.”

Petter has spent a lot of time pushing for a more open and competitive European market for online casinos and Internet gambling.  He pointed a finger at some of the exclusive gambling policies that still exist in many EU member countries and predicted that those policies are close to fading away.