Boom in Europoker ups profit by a third

Crypotlogic, suppliers of software to online poker and gaming websites, has announced a 32 per cent increase in their profits.

CEO Lewis Rose credited Europe with providing the earnings growth "The UK and continental Europe have now grown to 20 and 30 per cent, respectively, of overall revenue," he said.

The Toronto-based company's third-quarter revenue grew 43 per cent to US$15.6 million, compared with a year earlier. Profit rose to $2.9 million, from $2.2 million, as fees from on-line poker increased to more than 20 per cent of total revenue.

CryptoLogic also boosted its quarterly dividend by two-thirds Friday, to five cents per share.

Earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 amounted to 21 cents a share, up from 17 cents. The company reports in U.S. dollars.

Hailing CryptoLogic's role as part of "a growing new online economy," Mr. Rose said: "We knew Europe would be the market of the future and that poker would be the product of the future, and that is why we invested in both."

"Now our shareholders are starting to see the results."

Online poker fees from the WagerLogic software licensing subsidiary increased more than 55 per cent from the previous quarter.

CryptoLogic is in the middle of a $10-million investment program, directed at casino and poker products, system scalability, customer care and back-office support.

"As we all know, online poker is arguably the fast-growing segment in the history of interactive gaming - and CryptoLogic has a great seat at the winning table," Mr. Rose said.

In September, the company launched a new version of its poker software, with enhanced tournament capabilities that enable licensees to offer poker events with big prizes.

"Tournaments are a huge marketing draw," Mr. Rose said. "Our poker licensees recently launched their first cross-licensee, land-based tournament - the Caribbean Poker Classic."

Players qualified in a series of on-line tournaments for a chance to win a seat at the final championship event to be held in sunny St. Martin on Dec. 5-11, with hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes up for grabs.