Spain's flowing football won plaudits from fans, but the team’s stylish move to victory in the Euro 2012 Championship was bad news for the bookies, which always suffer when the favourites win.
Online gambling group Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment said today that the tournament “delivered a meaningful uplift in betting activity” but that margins were lower than hoped because “the majority of results followed the predicted path”.
City analysts are now watching closely for similar warnings from the rest of the industry.
Despite this, the online gambling group said its casino and bingo products helped offset the weakness in sports betting and “continued pressures” in poker.
Bwin had been in negotiations with Shuffle Master to offload Ongame, its poker network, but talks were aborted at the end of last month after the two sides failed to reach agreement.
The company said trading since the beginning of April was in line with expectations, with solid performances in bingo and casino being offset by continued pressures in poker.
