Great First Quarter For Casino Firm Playtech

Published: Thursday, April 27, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

GREAT FIRST QUARTER FOR ONLINE CASINO COMPANY PLAYTECH

More European online casino players and revenues climbing

Turnkey online casino software provider Playtech has released impressive first quarter trading figures for 2006, indicating a very positive start to the year with revenues up almost 150 percent over Q1 in 2005.

Revenues overall were up 147 percent on Q1 2005 at $20.767 million, comprising a 136 percent increase in casino revenues and a phenomenal 1159 percent rise in poker revenues, albeit from a low base. New poker software is currently under further development at the group's facilities in Talinn, Estonia.

Licensees increased from 31 to 39 over the same period last year, providing a total of 115 sites using the Playtech software and services.

The origin of revenues showed a significant drop of 14 percent from players from North America (from 67 percent in Q1 2005 to the current 53 percent) whilst European and Asian Pacific players action increased by 6 percent and 14 percent respectively. Revenue contribution from the Far East has more than doubled over the past year.

Playtech's Chief Executive Officer Avigur Zmora said, "During the quarter, which has included the company's IPO, we have significantly increased revenues across all of our sectors, both year on year and compared to the previous quarter. Based on this increase, and the underlying growth of existing clients, we are delighted to have traded in the first quarter of 2006 ahead of market expectations."

He continued: "It is particularly encouraging to see that our drive into the exciting and fast growing Asia Pacific market is showing clear results. Revenue contribution from this region has more than doubled within the year whilst US players this quarter contribute approximately 50 percent of revenues, down from 67 percent this time last year. This clearly illustrates the ongoing success of our strategy to create a more balanced geographical business portfolio."