iGaming Business – French online betting and gaming operator PMU has reported that despite a year-on-year drop in sales during the first quarter of 2014, its activity in the period was “in line with expectations”.
The operator reported total sales of €2.6 billion ($3.6 billion) for Q1 of 2014, a decrease of 3.4% on the previous year.
PMU’s horseracing business suffered the most with an overall drop of 4.5% in sales to €2.4 billion. French horseracing sales fell 7.4% to €2.2 billion in the quarter but this was slightly offset by a 45.6% jump to €192.1 million in international sales.
Elsewhere, sportsbetting grew by 17% to €57.6 million in the quarter while poker also increased 9.2% to €151.8 million.
As a result of the drop in total sales, the gross margin from sales fell 1.3% to €637.3 million during the quarter.
Horseracing was again hit hardest with a total drop of 1.6% to €619.8 million. Gross margin from French horseracing sales decreased 4.5% to €572.3 million while gross margin from international sales grew 52.2% to €47.4 million.
In addition, gross margin from sports betting sales jumped 14.8% to €11.8 million while poker also experienced a 6.3% increase to €5.7 million.
PMU said in a statement: “Despite the contraction in the gross margin, net income for the first quarter is in line with expectations and is slightly higher than the first quarter of 2013.
“This therefore enables the PMU to ensure horseracing is provided with the financial resources necessary to enable its ongoing development.”
