Another bumper year for bet365

A 43 percent rise in sports gamblers has driven a 92 percent rise in pre-tax profits to GBP 410.2 million at online gambling group bet365…and the prospects for the UK headquartered company to grow organically rather than by mergers and acquisitions are good, analysts said this week.

Amounts wagered on sport rose by a third to exceed GBP 34 billion as in-play betting boomed.

The company took on more employees in the year, boosting its head count 9 percent to just under 3,000, and making Bet365 the biggest single employer in its home base of Stoke-on-Trent.

However at GBP 75 million this year dividends paid to its Coates family owners were lower than the GBP 95 million divvied out last year. GBP 10 million was transferred to the company’s charitable foundation, which donates to a number of worthy causes.

Although its overseas betting operations have been transferred to Gibraltar, Bet365 continued paying its UK-based taxes, and there was therefore not impacted by the introduction of point-of-consumption tax changes in Britain.

A spokesman told the Financial Times that the company is expanding overseas and expects to have licenses in 12 countries soon.

The company also sponsors Premier League football club Stoke City, which has reported a GBP 800,000 profit this year after losing GBP 5 million in 2014.

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