888 Holdings PLC (LON:888) said revenues soared in 2020 as more people gambled while being stuck at home during lockdown.
The online gaming specialist also saw benefits from its first in-house sportsbook platform, which thrived even though events were severely curtailed by the Coronavirus pandemic and online poker platform Poker8, which notched up revenue growth of 48%.
Group revenues rose by 52% to US$849.7mln (US$560.3mln) with casino up 63%, sport (36%) , poker (48%) and bingo (10%).
Underlying profits more than doubled to US$116mln, but 888 took a view on its bingo business that led to a write-down of US$79mln causing pre-tax profits to drop 41% to US$46.7mln.
The final dividend reflects the bumper revenue and for the year 888 is paying 18c or three times the 2019 level.
One note of caution was a warning that 888 expects tighter regulation to knock between US$70-100mln off revenues in the current year, but otherwise the company was upbeat.
Germany, for example, increased revenues 2% year-on-year for the full year, but following regulatory changes implemented in October 2020 revenues were significantly lower year-on-year.
Itai Pazner, chief executive, said: “We welcomed a record number of new members to our brands, nearly one and a half million, with our differentiated products and our big data supporting highly effective marketing.
“We are pleased with our continued progress in the US, and with three new states set to launch in 2021, we are poised to see the scale benefits of our investments here.
“We enter 2021 with strong momentum, with a record level of customers, and with a positive reaction to our suite of new products and innovations.”
Cash at the end of 2020 was €190mln.