Gains recorded in all key figures, including a double-digit increase in international casino revenues and the addition of 8 new casinos to the company’s portfolio.
Vienna – At the Casinos Austria Group Annual Press Conference held in the Austrian Lotteries multimedia event center, Studio 44, Casinos Austria International (CAI) today announced record results for the year ended 31.12.2007. Aggregate revenues (win, registered tips, entrance) at the 66 casino operations around the globe wholly or partly owned and/or managed by CAI rose by 10.7 year-on-year to a record 1.1 billion euro (2006: 990 million euro), exceeding the 1 billion euro mark for the first time in the company’s 30-year history. Guest numbers for the period at these casinos increased by 5.4 to 17.5 million (2006: 16.6 million).
„We are delighted with these results,“ said CFO Josef Leutgeb. „The double-digit increase in revenues and further growth in visitor numbers offer continued proof of the quality and potential of our operations worldwide.“
Highlights in 2007 included the addition of eight new casinos to the Vienna-based casino consulting, development and management company’s international portfolio. In April, its Swiss subsidiary, Casinos Austria (Swiss) AG acquired a 29% stake in Casinò Lugano, increasing its number of casinos in Switzerland to seven, the largest portfolio of any operator. Four new cruising casinos were added to the CAI fleet in May and June on board the Silversea Cruises ultra-luxurious Silver Wind, and the three luxury vessels in the Windstar Cruises fleet, Wind Spirit, Wind Star and Wind Surf.
Also in June, casino operations began as planned at Grand Casino Beograd in the Serbian capital. Developed in cooperation with Club Hotel Loutraki of Greece and the State Lottery of Serbia, Grand Casino Beograd is the largest and most sophisticated entertainment venue of its kind in South East Europe and redefines the European casino, placing gaming center stage in a total entertainment concept. Finally, in December, CAI‘s partner in South Africa, the JSE-listed Gold Reef Resorts Limited continued its highly successful growth with the opening of two further casinos: Silverstar Casino in Gauteng and Queens Casino in the Eastern Cape, bringing its total number of resorts in the country to seven.
„With eight new casinos added to our portfolio, it has been a highly successful year overall for Casinos Austria International,“ said CEO Paul Herzfeld. „If you add that to the important steps taken in other markets to ensure continued future growth, we are very optimistic about the future.“
Group Results
Casinos Austria International is the international subsidiary of Casinos Austria AG, the renowned Austria-based gaming company with extensive interests across the casino, lottery, sports betting, online gaming and VLT sectors. Aggregate total revenues for the companies in the Casinos Austria Group (Casinos Austria AG, Casinos Austria International, Austrian Lotteries, CAST, win2day.at, tipp3 and WINWIN) for the year ended 31.12.2007 also continued their upward trend, increasing by 4.1% year-on-year to a record 3.49 billion euro (2006: 3.35 billion euro).
Revenues (win, registered tips, entrance) from the Group’s casino sector activities in 2007 rose by 9.4% to 1.37 billion euro (2006: 1.26 billion euro). This includes revenues of 1.1 billion euro from the 66 casinos in the CAI network and 277 million euro (+4.5%) from the 12 casinos operated in Austria by Casinos Austria AG. Together these 78 casinos in 18 countries and on board 13 cruise ships welcomed some 19.9 million visitors, a rise of 4.7 year-on-year, and employed a total of 13,221 staff (+25.4).
Outlook 2008
2008 has already begun on a positive note, with CAI receiving the „Casino Operator Europe“ award at the Empire Gaming Awards 2008 in London in January. Grand Casino Beograd celebrated its completion with a spectacular Gala Weekend to great acclaim in early February. Work is already well underway for the opening of Casino Los Angeles in Chile later in the year, a new flagship casino is currently under development in Hanover, Germany, while construction work continues in Belgium on the permanent location for Grand Casino Brussels in the new Anspach Center. The casino on board a further vessel in the Silversea Cruises fleet, the Silver Cloud, is also set to open in May.
The Casinos Austria International Annual Report 2007 is now available and can be ordered or downloaded from the company’s website on www.casinosaustria.com.