Tatts Group Lowers Net Profit with Pokies Yet Shows Promise

Tatts Group is changing its location to Brisbane, but it will continue to offer lotteries and gambling online. According to its corporate headquarters, Tatts Group is seeing a strong interest in its online offerings. As a result, the organization is looking into more growth prospects for its online operations.

Tatts is showing a net profit for six months in the $128 million range. This is slightly lower than the prior year at $166 million. The change is 23 percent. The change in profit derives from a change in the company’s online pokies. Tatts removed many of its poker machines because of an expiring licence in Victoria.

Despite the net profit changing on online gambling, Tatts Group is still in good position. The profit from other activities is up by 26 percent or about $109 million. The company’s online revenue has grown by 52 percent from a year ago. Online wagering sales even increased by about 22 percent.

The chief executive from Tatts, Robert Cooke, stated there are plenty of opportunities in today's market for online casino and lottery businesses. He was quoted saying, “We've got a lot of ideas. We're not going to flag those to the market at this point.”

Cook mentioned the company is looking to expand its offerings in the coming year to satisfy clientele, but the firm is working primarily on making its lotteries stand out right now.

Tatts Group’s revenues have increased rapidly because of Oz Lotto and Powerball jackpots. At the same time, the company has seen improvements across all platforms, including TOTE Tasmania that the company acquired a year ago.

Another contributing factor to the company’s prosperity comes from its TattsBet staking site, which increased by seven percent. Totaling at nearly $355 million, many observers are crediting better win rates for this increase at TattsBet.

Tatts has a positive start to 2013 and expects profits to be up for the next quarter. Although the online pokies mishap may have affected a portion of the company's bottom line, other areas are making up for it. Tatts shares did close a bit lower, but the company offers an eight cent interim dividend, along with a positive outlook toward better profits all around in 2013.

Company sentiment is positive, and it hopes to push through the rest of the year on this new-found momentum.