Total revenues for the quarter increased by 133% compared to the same period last year and 22% on the previous quarter to $25.4 million.
Revenues from casino, Playtech\’s core product, continued to grow faster than the market, with an increase of 121% compared to the same period last year and 21% on the previous quarter to $22.0 million.
Poker revenues, currently 11% of total revenues, showed a significant seven-fold increase compared to the same period last year and 30% on the previous quarter to $2.7 million. The poker network, iPoker, is gaining popularity and reached a peak of more than 11,000 concurrent players during the period.
As of 30 June 2006, Playtech had 42 active licensees operating a total of 137 gaming sites, representing an increase of eight new licensees and an addition of 34 new gaming sites compared to the same period last year and an increase of four new licenses and 22 new gaming sites on the previous quarter.
Playtech continues to maintain its strategy of creating a more balanced geographical business portfolio. The percentage of players\’ income contribution attributable to non-US players has increased during the second quarter. Management expects Asia to continue growing its percentage of total revenues starting in the fourth quarter helped by the release of specific games targeting Asian players such as Mahjong. Percentage of player income from the USA decreased to 48% from 58% over the same period last year and from 49% in the previous quarter. Asian revenues increased 17% during the second quarter compared to the first quarter of 2006 and European revenues increased by 33% over the same period.
Commenting on today\’s trading update, Avigur Zmora, CEO of Playtech said: “Playtech has shown very strong growth over the past quarter. Both Casino and Poker revenues continue to grow and our policy of geographical diversification continues on track. It is also very encouraging to see the progress in our development pipeline. We look forward to the second half of the year with confidence.”
Speaking to Reuters, Zmora said “Part of the focus of the company is to move out of US-facing operators as much as we can.”
“Not that we are saying no to casino, poker or bingo business from the U.S., but all our budgeting and sales efforts are going towards Europe and especially Asia,” he added.
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