In Australia, online gaming and wagering provider International All Sports (IAS) Limited has reported making a loss of $9.86 million for its most recent financial year.

The Melbourne-based firm was in the red to the tune of $2.22 million for its previous financial year and revealed that its wagering turnover for the previous twelve months fell 10.4 percent year-on-year to $998.79 million from $1.11 billion.

Operating revenues rose 16.6 percent year-on-year to $44.33 million from $38.01 million while its normalised earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 224.8 percent year-on-year to $2.703 million from $831,073.

“Although turnover remained constant, IASBet.com was able to achieve an increase in revenue of $2.93 million,” read a statement from IAS.

“This was a direct result of the change in customer base to retail recreational customers and the move away from a dependence on high staking professionals and credit customers for turnover.

“Unfortunately IASBet.com’s increase in revenue was negated by the introduction of various race field fees and associated taxes. These fees and taxes contributed $7.15 million to IASBet.com’s overall expenses.

“The CanBet business unit reported an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation loss of $5.69 million for the period of July 1, 2008 through to the sale date of May 12, 2009.

“The Proprietary Trade business unit returned earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $831,000. This was an exceptional result driven by the company’s unique intellectual property applications.

“AusTote returned a small loss for the 2009 financial year. The redevelopment of the AusTote system was put on hold in the 2009 financial year due to the IAS sale process. AusTote’s product offering was also reduced with the introduction of race field fees. For these reasons, the promotion of AusTote also reduced, which had a negative impact on customer growth.

“Read Rating generated an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation loss of $159,476 for the financial year. During the second half of 2009, the Read Rating product was redeveloped using new technology and a new competitive pricing model. A marketing campaign to attract new Read Rating customers has followed and the Read Rating business unit’s performance is forecast to improve in the 2010 financial year.”


Source: iGamingBusiness.com