August 5 - When Germany passed its controversial German State Treaty on
Gambling, which affected the entire gaming industry in the country, one of the
first companies to feel the impact was Tipp24 AG.
Tipp24, a popular online lottery operator, released its second quarter
results this week and showed that the number of new customers from Germany to
sign up for its products was dismally low compared to last year's figures.
Reacting to this report, shares of Tipp24 AG fell 2.68% yesterday to 14.50
Euros.
The Chairman of the Executive Board at Tipp24, Jens Schumann said about the
numbers: "The effects of the ongoing regulatory discussions were felt above all
in the second quarter. The requirements of the new State Treaty on Gaming
introduced at the beginning of the year led both to increased expenses for legal
advice and to considerable cost increases. The more complex registration process
also had a significant impact on the number of new customer registrations, which
grew by just 60,000 in the period under review. The number of new customers in
Germany was only a third of those added in the same period last year."
Nevertheless, Tipp24 reported that its revenues climbed to 21.56 million
Euros in the second quarter of 2008, showing an increase of 20.1% compared to
last year in the same period.
Revenues from the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy increased significantly by
over 25 percent, while the German market showed a slightly less increase of
19.3%. This was despite the impact of the State Treaty of Gaming.
Tipp24 is fairly confident that it will be able to add at least 100,000 new
customers by the end of the year.
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