888 Holdings Says Online Offerings Making Up For Sports Bet Losses

Updated On Mar 26, 2020 by Ella McDonald

888 HoldingsMost gambling operators across the world are going through a tough time now with the global shutdown due to COVID-19 restrictions. One operator that is doing well in these times is 888 Holdings.

The operator saw a rise in its share prices this week as it revealed that it was seeing a growth in its online casino and poker offerings. They attribute this to the coronavirus forcing everyone to be locked down.

888 Holdings released its preliminary financial report earlier in the week which showed its current performance. A day later, they also released a COVID-19 trading update that showed the company was benefiting from the enforced lockdown of people.

The initial report revealed that 888 was rolling high from 2019. It was performing higher than the previous year by 18 percent. This seems high but the company pointed out it usually expects a 24 percent increase. The drop in expected growth was attributed to the cancellations of major sporting events. Sports betting contributed to 16 percent of 888 Holdings’ revenue in 2019 and the coronavirus has hit the sports betting market hard.

However the sports betting losses were offset by a spike in online gaming revenue brought on by the lockdown imposed by multiple countries. 888 Holdings online casino and online poker offerings saw an increase in new player registrations. While this is a positive for the operator, 888 warns that the disruption of the economy may cause some hard times ahead as people have less disposable income for gambling.

The report also showed that 888 is aware of the closer scrutiny that online gambling market is experiencing in the UK right now. The operator has announced that it would be more vigilant against gambling-related harm and try to protect its customers as much as possible during these trying times.

iGaming Operators Benefitting

The preliminary financial report has reassured shareholders and investors. The result was a 32 percent jump in share prices. This was not only for 888 Holdings but also its competitors like William Hill and Flutter Entertainment who also witnessed a spike in share prices. This makes up for the losses of last week as the market dropped significantly due to the panic caused by the COVID-19 lockdown.

While land based operators have taken a massive hit with their casino closures, iGaming operators have benefitted as more players turn online!

Ella McDonald Author

Worldwide gambling related news stories are what you will find being written by Ella, she has a keen interest however in UK and European based new stories relating to all gaming environments, and she is always prepared to ask the difficult questions many other journalists avoiding asking those in power.

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