Huge lottery payout prompts German lottery firm to restate finances

The German online lottery firm Tipp24 AG has had to reset its annual financial forecast following a massive Euro 11.7 million win at subsidiary MyLotto24 three months ago.
A statement from the Hamburg-based company reveals that the total amount it paid out in lottery wins in the first half of 2010 exceeded the statistical average by Euro 17.9 million, which led to negative earnings before interest and tax of Euro 16.6 million.
“The consolidated revenues of Tipp24 in the first six months of 2010 amounted to Euro 40.6 million,” the company reported. “The year-on-year decline of 24.8 percent was mainly a result of high winnings payments and positive special items in the first quarter of 2009. The consolidated earnings before interest and tax amounted to Euro 6.5 million in the first half of 2010 – prior year Euro 22.7 million – while consolidated net profits fell to Euro 3.7 million from Euro 17.3 million.”
The company reported that in its German business, revenues were slightly up at Euro 1.6 million, (2009: Euro 1.4 million) and EBITDA totalled a negative Euro 4 million (2009: negative Euro 6.8 million).
Revenues generated by overseas operations fell to Euro 40.3 million (2009: Euro 53.2 million) while EBITDA dropped to Euro 10 million (2009: Euro 29.8 million).
This is the second recent occasion in which Tipp24 has had to reset forecast; last year its insurers refused to pay out on another major jackpot win.

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