Sustained investments in improving and extending its portfolio as well as measures to improve efficiency also led to the group achieving clear increases in results: operating results rose by 49 % to €150.1 million, while group consolidated results were up by 65 % to € 91.2 million.
Visitor numbers at Casinos Austria’s 12 domestic casinos were up by 10.6 % in 2016 compared to the previous year: together, these casinos welcomed a total of 3,009,946 guests, more than half of whom were international visitors. This led in turn to a strong rise in gaming revenues, which were up 5.2 % year-on-year to € 326.83 million.
Casinos Austria invested some € 38 million in 2016 in the development and equipping of its casinos in Austria. More than 1,000 new slot machines from 11 different manufacturers with a total value of € 16 million were installed and have been in operation since 1 January 2017.
Since its operative turnaround two years ago, Casinos Austria International has also begun taking on new projects in the form of management contracts and so-called token investments. These include the opening of a casino in Batumi, Georgia, and the entry into the Macedonian market. Since its founding in 2014, the National Videolottery of the Republic of Macedonia has successfully rolled out 80 % (1,038 terminals) of the planned 1,300 video lottery terminals.
"We really did our homework thoroughly, have a great team of highly dedicated employees with extensive know-how and a clear focus on customer and service excellence, and have built a remarkable group of companies of which the former and the new owners, above all the ÖBIB Austrian state holding company, can be really proud,” said Director General Karl Stoss.
The state has since not only enjoyed continuous dividends, it has also received over € 5.5 billion in tax contributions from the group over the last ten years.
Source: GMB / G3 Newswire
