of Man-headquartered GVC Holdings has revealed growth in net gaming revenue (NGR) of 10% for the first half of 2017, climbing to €484.8m through the positive momentum of its sports and casino brands.

GVC noted in its market update that this increase came despite the absence of a major football tournament, stating that while sports NGR declined 1% in Q2 2017, excluding Euro 2016 revenues NGR was up 15% on Q2 2016.

The daily NGR of GVC’s games brands increased 13% for Q2 to a total of €616,000, driven by Party Poker and the improving fortunes of its standalone online casinos.

The group also generated €6.1m in revenue against €7.6m for pro forma H1 2016 through the disposal of its holdings in payments processor Kalixa, the sale of which to Senjō Group was finalised in early June 2017.

Group CEO, Kenneth Alexander said: “The group continues to perform well with positive momentum across our core businesses. Achieving Q2 constant currency NGR growth of 10% in the absence of a major football tournament is particularly pleasing.

“As demonstrated at our recent Capital Markets Day, the organic opportunity is significant, whilst we are also well positioned to pursue further acquisition opportunities should they arise.

“This combined with an increase in marketing investment in the second half to more normalised levels gives the board confidence of GVC delivering another year of strong progress.”