Unibet has published its financial position for the first quarter of the year and the results are cause for concern. The company’s gross winnings figure has dropped by 10% in the first quarter of 2011 and Unibet believes that the French gambling market is the reason for the poor performance.
Last year, the French online gambling industry accounted for 23% of the company’s gross winnings. Unfortunately, Unibet pulled out of the French market when the country decided to tax foreign gaming operators, losing out on a great deal of gaming revenue from the country.
Unibet was just one of my many companies that abandoned the French online casino market, as proposed taxes were considered by many operators to be too steep. Microgaming is another operator that decided to pull out of the market, but it has yet to state how much of an impact the decision has had on its finances.
Unibet is still positive, however. Excluding the French market, gross winnings for the company were up by 16% and Unibet continues to push forward. As consolidation throughout Europe’s online gambling industry becomes a greater reality, Unibet believes that it will find more opportunities to make up for lost revenue in other countries.