32Red announced positive results this week after its pre-taxation profits increased to 1.3 million pounds sterling, an extra 200,000 pounds on the previous year. The number of total players at 32Red’s site increased by over 100 percent, while the total turnover rose from 1.97 million to 3.48 million pounds. The Trafalgar-owned business reported that 82 percent of its revenue came from the local markets in Ireland and Great Britain, with the remaining revenues generated from casino players in Scandinavian countries.

32Red’s CEO Ed Ware has stated that “plenty of growth” exists in the market, and pointed to the increasing numbers of poker fans in Ireland and the United Kingdom. “In the UK there remains plenty to go for,” he says. “PartyPoker and 888 Casino have been acting as icebreakers and we are going in after them and picking up customers.”

While 32Red’s IPO was affected in September 2005 by industry pessimism on the future of online poker operators, Ware states that the market has recovered and is stronger than ever. “While what happened last September was painful, the fact that PartyGaming has bounced back and come back stronger has given the City of London more confidence in the market,” he says. PartyGaming’s negative statement on the future of online poker was widely circulated in industry circles last year and resulted in many publicly-listed online gaming firms losing revenue through decreased share prices.

Ware has also stated that 32Red is keen to follow the lead of large firms PartyGaming and 888 Holdings and diversify its online gambling products. The sports-betting market is currently looking an attractive prospect for investment, Ware says, with a range of companies being investigated as potential acquisitions. “The highest-rated online gambling company in the sector is SportingBet because it has the entire portfolio of products,” says Ware. “We have casino and poker, and clearly we would be interested in adding a sportsbook.”

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