Casinos Austria International suffers €10m loss in H1

Revenue for the international division fell 30.5 per cent to €52.8m.

Austria.- Casinos Austria International (CAI) made a loss of €10.3million in the first half as revenue fell 30.5 per cent year-on-year to €52.8million.

CAI is the subsidiary of Casinos Austria that operates venues in other countries. It had made a profit of €6.2million in the same period in 2019.

Its venues were heavily affected by Covid-19 lockdowns, but it says numbers have been strong since it reopened properties in Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Denmark, North Macedonia, Australia and Egypt between May and the end of June.

It said: “The global economy contracted significantly, especially in the second quarter of 2020, due to the sometimes drastic measures taken to contain the coronavirus. The land-based gaming industry is one of the industries most severely affected.

“While the Casinos Austria International Group’s gaming revenues in January and February 2020 were 11 per cent higher than in the previous year, all casinos had to shut down in March 2020. The management immediately took all measures to curb [expenditure].

“Fortunately, good gaming revenues have been achieved in the first few weeks since the opening.”

It said that the reopened casinos were now generally making at least 70 per cent of their usual daily GGR pre-lockdown, with “small exceptions”. It said that some venues were even bringing in more revenue after reopening.

Germany remains CAI’s largest source of revenue (€30.1million for H1), followed by Belgium (€10.6million), Switzerland (€6.8million) and Denmark (€6.2million), Liechtenstein (€5.5million). Australia and Hungary both contributed €4.3million.

In July, Casinos Austria announced a major restructuring following the closure of Sazka’s acquisition of a majority stake in the company.