Bet365 still a money-printing machine

Online gambling operator Bet365 continues to set the pace for online excellence by reporting profits of £448m in its most recent fiscal year.

The privately held Stoke-based Bet365 isn’t required to turn in quarterly figures like its publicly traded competitors, so outside observers really only get one annual glimpse under Bet365’s hood. As usual, the numbers are generally staggering and increase the separation between the online-only Bet365 and its online-struggling, retail-reliant rivals.

For the year ending March 27, 2016, Bet365’s revenue rose 5% to £1.55b while profits improved 10% to £448m. Sports betting turnover rose 6% to £37b despite a tough comparison with the previous fiscal year, which included the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament.

Bet365’s in-play betting product accounted for 72% of sports revenue, down from 75% in 2014-15, despite mobile revenue rising 36% year-on-year. Bet365 declined to break out figures for its mobile casino product, but joint-CEO Denise Coates said mobile was “maturing into a significant platform.”