- A strong Q3 was followed by an equally impressive Q4: At $234.4 million, Q4 was the highest in 12 quarters.
- In online poker, actives in Q4 2017 were 2.03 million, representing a year-over-year decline of 9%.
- The group has also introduced a new key metric, net deposits, which sits at $326
The Stars Group reported record full year revenues of $1.3 billion in 2017, boasting of growth across all major products.
In online poker, revenue returned to growth, hitting $877 million for the year, up 4% on 2016. A strong Q3 was followed by an equally impressive Q4: With revenue of $234.4 million, Q4 was its highest in 12 quarters and represents growth of 8% year-over-year.
While a large proportion of this came due to favorable currency fluctuations, on a constant currency basis, annual growth was still positive, and it came during a period of significant regulatory headwinds.
The casino and sports division, however, remains the star of the show, up 42% year-over-year. In Q4, it represented over 30% of group revenue for the first time.
One place of potential concern was in the active uniques metrics. In online poker, actives in Q4 2017 were 2.03 million, representing a seemingly precipitous year-over-year decline of 9%. TSG explained this impact as a result of focusing on high value players.
Evidence for this comes from its quarterly net yield metric, showing average quarterly value per customer at a record-high $160. In casino, actives were flat, but sport actives grew 24%.
The group has also introduced a new key metric, net deposits—“the aggregate of gross deposits or transfer of funds made by customers into their real-money online accounts less withdrawals or transfer of funds by such customers from such account”—which sits at $326 million.
It has also ceased reporting its customer registrations metric.
