March 1, 2010 (CAP Newswire) – Austrian-based online gaming giant bwin, one of the world’s most popular online gambling brands, is reporting an enormous revenue increase for 2009 in its Internet poker division, the company recently announced.
In its report entitled “Preliminary results for the financial year 2009,” the company ran through an impressive series of revenue growth in most of its divisions across the board for 2009 (as compared to 2008), including an increase in its online casino performance and in its overall revenue.
But the biggest jump was clearly in its online poker division, which rocketed up 26 percent compared to overall online poker revenue in 2008. That’s a very noteworthy increase that may mean a number of things: that the online poker market is finally regaining its pre-recession strength; that Europeans are getting turned on to poker at a faster rate than U.S. players; and/or simply that bwin, already a global heavyweight, is becoming such a strong brand that it may soon be much more competitive in the online poker market.
The last option is likely. Bwin had a very prolific year in 2009, due in no small part to its many sports licensing deals, highly visible on television in Europe, the U.S., and worldwide. Such brand recognition is helpful in affiliate marketing efforts; bwin is, more and more, a brand known not only to sports betting world but poker players and general online gamblers in general. (Interestingly, these financial results show that bwin’s online sports betting performance in 2009 actually decreased from 2008.)
The report also cites strong growth in the fourth quarter of 2009 over the year’s first three quarters for bwin; read it here. More details on the bwin online poker affiliate program can be found here.