OPAP down by 8.7% in net profit

Greek gaming and betting operator and Europe’s 4th biggest betting firm Opap reported on Monday an 8.7% drop in net profit for the first quarter of 2017, as it is hurt by costs for the rollout of a new video lottery business.

Opap said its net profit for the first quarter of 2017 came in at €39 million, down from €42.8 million for the same period in 2016. The privatized Greek operator offers via a network of approximately 5,750 outlets in Greece and Cyprus sports betting and lotteries through a system of revenue sharing with agents.

In a statement Opap said “Following the kick-off of VLTs (video lottery terminals) operations in January 2017, revenues for the quarter reached €1.8 million”,“The roll-out is in progress”,“53 Gaming Halls along with we OPAP agencies were already operational hosting a total of 1,355 VLTs.”,“Expenses for rolling out the terminals.. which is expected to be concluded next year.. and other games weighed on its bottom line”.

However, Opap’s gross gaming revenues reached 5.3 percent to €358.9 million with robust performance in its lottery operations more than offsetting weakness in sports betting as Opap’s strongest performance came from the Lottery segment in Q1 as gross gaming revenue (GGR) due to jackpots for Joker.