The Group was led by Sky Bet who saw its revenue jump by 58%, increasing from £133m to £210. Sky Gaming was unable to match its more successful counterpart, however, a revenue increase of 31% during the period saw an intake of £117m compared to £89m previously, completing a strong performance for SBG all around.
The Yorkshire based gambling company also pointed to favourable sports results, coupled with a significant increase of total customers, up 19% to 2 million, leading to its huge increase in revenue. SBG also raised their EBITDA by 92% to £118m further cementing the period as an incredibly successful one for the group.
Explaining the success of SBG, Richard Flint, CEO of Sky Betting & Gaming, stated: “The business continued to perform very well in the first half of 2017/18. Our focus on the customer, and delivering quality experiences, offers and promotions continues to differentiate our brand, and we extended our lead as the UK’s most popular online betting brand.
“During the period, we continued to enhance our range of markets, products and offers, with more betting options than ever and over 20 exclusive new games launched on our gaming brands.”
The company's continued success has allowed for an additional 230 jobs created during the period whilst boosting the Yorkshire economy by an estimated £300m in gross value added. The impressive growth has also allowed the Group to expand into other European markets in an attempt to recreate the same winning formula and further increase revenue.
All of this was achieved during a period in which SBG has promoted an ethos of “safer gambling” most notably with its most recent advertising campaign, introduced in November as part of its record expansion deal with the English Football League and running until the 2023-24 season.
Flint expressed his delight with the campaign stating: "It was particularly pleasing to launch a fully integrated safer gambling campaign during the period, and we continue to increase our investment in research, data analysis and capability to provide a safe and responsible gambling environment for our customers."
