Playtech Reports "Significant Growth" in Poker following MPN Closure Playtech Reports "Significant Growth" in Poker following MPN Closure
Key Takeaways
  • “The Bingo and Poker businesses enjoyed a strong H1 with significant growth compared to the same period in 2019/”
  • Cash game traffic more than doubled from around 600 concurrent cash game seats to over 1400 at its peak.
  • “While activity has started to normalize since June, it still remains above 2019 levels and above expectations for 2020”
  • Nine brands in total that made the switch from MPN, many of these operating in multiple jurisdictions.
  • The online division, excluding sports, increased by 28% on a constant currency basis.

Playtech, owner of the B2B online poker network iPoker, reported a strong first half of the year in online poker, following various skins moving to it from MPN in May of this year.

The network also saw increased interest during the coronavirus pandemic, Playtech stated.

However, the company has ceased to report absolute revenue figures from its online poker division, ending a reporting period that stretches back more than a decade.

“The Bingo and Poker businesses enjoyed a strong H1 with significant growth compared to the same period in 2019,” the company reported in its interim financial report earlier this month, without revealing the numbers underpinning this trend.

In prior years, in both full year and interim reports Playtech has broken out its B2B gambling division by gaming vertical. This showed that, for example, revenue in online poker had stabilized between 2016 to 2018, though fell again in 2019.

Full year revenue at the end of last year was €8.4 million, down 12% on the year prior.