Our strategy
Having completed the merger of bwin and PartyGaming on 31 March 2011, we are focused on putting into action the detailed plans that we have prepared to extract the €65 million of financial synergies we have already identified and set in motion the business strategy for the combined group.
While we have identified a number of individual strategies that we will be adopting, each of these can be classified under five broad headings:
Focus on regulated and to-be-regulated markets
Our industry is undergoing an unprecedented regulatory shift from unregulated towards regulated markets. As the world’s largest listed online gaming company, we are going to focus our efforts on securing meaningful market shares in each of our four product verticals in all of the major regulated and to-be-regulated markets. This will be achieved through a combination of both organic as well as acquisition-led growth. At the same time, we will continue to lobby governments for legislation that both meets the needs and desires of the regulators whilst remaining commercially attractive to ensure that regulated companies are not at a significant disadvantage to unregulated companies.
Invest in our core assets
Both bwin and PartyGaming’s success has been borne out of an ability to innovate and a willingness to invest in developing the best products and brands. Our drive and determination to remain at the vanguard of the industry has seen both businesses expand into new areas and develop new and innovative products - this at the very heart of our success and is part of our DNA. Despite being less than 15 years old, our respective brands and products are already some of the strongest in the industry – we want to make them stronger through delivery of the best customer experience, irrespective of product or channel.
Secure long-term strategic alliances
Both bwin and PartyGaming have a long history of recognising the value from long-term relationships with strategic partners. bwin’s brand has become synonymous with sport through its sponsorship of some of the world’s biggest names in sport such as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Both bwin and PartyGaming have also forged strong alliances with a number of corporate customers in key markets such as PMU and Amaury in France. These are just some examples of how both companies have recognised the value that can be created from leveraging the assets of others.
Extend into new areas of digital entertainment
At the time of the Merger we recognised the opportunity to extend our assets and skills into new areas of digital entertainment, in particular social gaming. We also identified a major opportunity to exploit our existing products and brands through mobile, touch and video. As a result, the Board has added a new element to the strategy, one that is focused on extending our reach into these new and exciting markets.
Social gaming - is a rapidly growing market and shares many characteristics with our core business including the need to develop high quality online games, manage large numbers of simultaneous players with the support of fully-integrated business intelligence and analytics, provide a payments platform as well as sophisticated online marketing through a range of channels.
The mobile channel is not new to bwin.party having launched our first mobile sports betting in 2001. However, the advent of smartphone and tablet technology in conjunction with increasing connection speeds has revolutionised the mobile gaming proposition. A fast-growing part of our business, mobile gross gaming revenue increased by 104% year-on-year to €25.3m (2010: €12.4m) and we expect further strong growth in 2012.
Act responsibly
As a market leader, we are determined to lead by example. We are intent on opening new markets and promoting the merits of real money gaming around the world. Our reputation for fair play and responsible gaming is second to none and is driven by the fact that the trust of our customers is a pre-requisite for long-term success. bwin and PartyGaming have been pioneers in the areas of gambling research and innovation. Building on bwin’s existing collaboration with with the Division on Addiction, Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School teaching Affiliate and other initiatives, we plan to increase our efforts to promote safe and secure gaming on the internet.
Our strategy flows through each of our business activities: marketing, technology and customer service.