Australian lottery and gambling company Tatts Group has indicated that it will invest in its online marketing activities after reporting its full-year financial results.
By excluding from the headline results the now-discontinued Victorian pokies business, which contributed only 46 days in the year, after-tax profits increased by 40.8% to A$227.4 million (€153.2 million/$204.7 million) on the back of an 11% rise in turnover to A$2.95 billion.
Lotteries revenue increased by 13.6% and wagering revenue shifted up by 5.2%.
Including the Victorian pokies business in the results, turnover was A$3.12 billion and after-tax profit was $247.3 million – a year-on-year fall of 22.5%.
Investing in internet marketing could help to protect the company’s share of the wagering market from overseas bookmakers such as William Hill, which strengthened its proposition in the country by acquiring Tom Waterhouse’s online operation earlier this month.
Tatts Group chief executive Robbie Cooke told the Australian newspaper that he believed the business had a “significant untapped opportunity” online.
Cooke added that Tatts is also close to launching a new Tatts.com website and mobile app.
