The Stars Group, owner of the PokerStars, PokerStars Casino, BetStars and Full Tilt brands, has issued its Q4 and full year results for 2017.
Revenues for Q4 and full-year were ahead circa 16.1 per cent and 13.6 per cent year-on-year, respectively. Real-money online poker revenues and real-money online casino and sportsbook combined revenues represented approximately 65.1 per cent and 31.2 per cent of revenues for the quarter, and 66.9 per cent and 29.3 per cent for the year, compared to 70 per cent and 25.8 per cent and 73.2 and 22.9 per cent for corresponding periods in 2016.
Real-money online poker revenues for the quarter were up 7.9 per cent at $234.4m year-on-year, and ahead by 3.7 per cent at $877.3m for the full year compared with the prior year., or an increase of approximately 3.7% year-over-year. In 2017, The Stars Group saw a positive impact from its previously announced strategy of focusing on recreational players and the introduction of Stars Rewards, which helped counter certain regulatory headwinds, including the cessation of operations in certain markets, such as Australia and Colombia.
Turning to real-money online casino and sportsbook, combined revenues for Q4 increased by 40.3 per cent to $112.5m, and 45.4 per cent to $384 for the full year. According to the report, growth in real-money online casino and sportsbook combined revenues was driven primarily by a combination of geographic expansion and product improvements.
CEO Rafi Ashkenazi summarised: “2017 marked our evolution and transformation into The Stars Group. We maintained our global dominance in online poker, with the business experiencing year-over-year growth in that vertical, our online casino has already become one of the largest in the world since its launch in 2014, and our emerging online sportsbook not only recorded meaningful growth in turnover and revenues, but started to become a secondary customer acquisition channel.”
He added: “During the year, we strengthened our core senior management team, delivered another year of record revenues, significantly de-leveraged and continued to strengthen our balance sheet, all while investing in marketing, growth initiatives and technology infrastructure to support the long-term growth of our business. In 2018, we are continuing to execute on our growth initiatives, including through geographic expansion, inorganic growth, and improving our focus on and understanding of our customers, and we are beginning to realise our goal of becoming the world’s favorite igaming destination.”
