February 6, 2009
Bingo.com Announces Fourth Quarter Results
ANGUILLA, B.W.I., February 6, 2009 / Bingo.com, Ltd. (OTC BB: BNGOF), operator of the popular online gaming community http://www.bingo.com, today announced its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2008. All amounts are presented in United States dollars and in accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
“The fourth quarter of 2008 was another strong quarter of growth for Bingo.com as we saw increased gaming revenues across all our products,” said Tarrnie Williams, the Company’s CEO. “However, like many international companies, we have been negatively affected by the dramatic volatility of the currency market, particularly the fall of the United Kingdom Pound Sterling and the strengthening of the United States Dollar in relation to other world currencies.”
“To help alleviate our future exposure to currency risk and to aid our expansion into new markets, we will shortly be implementing a multi-currency product feature to our gaming software that will allow for simultaneous gaming activity in Pounds Sterling, United States Dollars, Euros and other currencies we choose to offer. We continue to follow our business plan which has been successful to date at securing significant numbers of bingo and slots players in the United Kingdom. In addition, through leveraging our recently acquired Maltese gaming license, we are creating a number of additional language and market-specific initiatives in anticipation of launching in several new markets in 2009. The strength of our URL http://www.bingo.com continues to provide the Company with new players at low acquisition costs compared to the competition and we have increased our player base consistently each month. While there are many hurdles yet to overcome we are confident that our offering will continue at a steady rate of growth and that Bingo.com will be a major player in this highly competitive market.”
Bingo.com highlights for the year ended 2008 and of the fourth quarter of 2008 included:
- Total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2008 of $5,649,565.
- Total loss for the year ended December 31, 2008 of $1,164,801 a decrease of 19% compared to a loss of $1,432,343 for the year ended December 31, 2007.
- Fourth quarter gaming revenue of £819,963, an increase of 5% over gaming revenue of £781,948 in the third quarter of 2008 when measured in Pounds Sterling, our depositing currency.
- The Pound Sterling has dropped 20% in value compared to the United States Dollar during the fourth quarter of 2008.
Total revenue for the quarter ended December 31, 2008, was $1,329,273, an increase of 17% from revenue of $1,135,844 for the same period in the prior year and a decrease of 15% from revenue of $1,560,087 in the third quarter of 2008. Of the $1,329,273 revenue for the quarter, the gaming operations provided revenue of $1,287,808, an increase of 23% from gaming revenue of $1,045,259 in the fourth quarter of 2007 and a decrease of 13% from gaming revenue of $1,487,999 in the third quarter of 2008.
When measured in Pounds Sterling, presently our depositing currency, the gaming operations provided revenue of £819,953, an increase of 60% from gaming revenue of £510,171 in the fourth quarter of 2007 and an increase of 5% from gaming revenue of £781,948 in the third quarter of 2008. The increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2007 and the third quarter of 2008, is due to an increase in the player base.
The advertising revenue for the quarter ended December 31, 2007, was $41,465, a decrease from advertising revenue of $90,585 in the fourth quarter of 2007 and a decrease of 42% from advertising revenue of $72,088 in the third quarter of 2008. This decrease in advertising is due to the slow down in advertising spend by our advertising customers.
Cost of revenue was $917,916 during the fourth quarter of 2008, an increase of 17% compared to cost of revenue of $783,883 in the fourth quarter of 2007 and a decrease of 9% from cost of revenue of $1,009,045 during the third quarter of 2008. Cost of revenue primarily consists of bonuses granted on deposits made by our players to encourage them to continue to play on our website. The awarding of deposit bonuses is required both to be competitive with other bingo-oriented websites and to build a large customer base as quickly as possible.
Sales and marketing expenses were $326,326 during the fourth quarter of 2008, an increase of 8% over expenses of $302,066 during the fourth quarter of 2007 and a decrease of 12% over sales and marketing expenses of $371,359 in the third quarter of 2008. These costs include sign up bonuses and incentives, commissions, advertising, and other promotional expenses intended to increase our subscriber base and improve gaming revenue. The increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2007, is due to the increase in commission paid to affiliates to promote our site. The decrease compared to the third quarter of 2008, is due to the weakness of the pound sterling and a reduction in sales and marketing expenses.
General and Administrative expenses consist of salaries, premises costs for our office, legal and professional fees, and other general corporate and office expenses. These expenses were $398,748 for the fourth quarter of 2008, a decrease of 1% from general and administrative expenses of $401,372, in the fourth quarter of 2007 and a decrease of 3% from expenses of $409,645 for the third quarter of 2008.
The Companies revenues are primarily received in Pounds Sterling whereas the majority of its fixed expenses are in both Canadian and United States Dollars. The large swings in the exchange rates of these currencies have negatively affected our operations. The net loss for the three months ended December 31, 2008, amounted to $398,295, a loss of $0.01 per share, compared to a net loss of $173,262 or $0.01 per share in the fourth quarter of 2007 and net loss of $268,774 or $0.01 per share in the third quarter of 2008. The loss for the fourth quarter 2008 compared to the fourth quarter of 2007 and the third quarter of 2008 is primarily due to the weakness of the Pound Sterling compared to the strength of the US Dollar, our reporting currency.
The Company has made a provision for the progressive jackpots on its slots games and for players float. We had cash of $412,002 and working capital of $344,504 before the provision for jackpots and players float of $211,821 at December 31, 2008. This compares to cash of $744,596 and working capital of $758,609 before the provision for jackpots and players float of $110,486 at December 31, 2007, and cash of $748,344 and working capital of $685,566 before the provision for jackpots and players float of $221,546 at September 30, 2008.
For full details of the Companies operations and financial results, please refer to the Securities and Exchange Commission website at www.sec.gov or the Bingo.com website at http://www.bingo.com.
About Bingo.com
Bingo.com, Ltd. (OTC BB: BNGOF) is the parent company of the Bingo.com group of companies which operates the popular online gaming community http://www.bingo.com. The Bingo.com group offers multiplayer bingo, slot machines, sweepstakes, and more. Players come together from around the world to chat, share, play and win at Bingo.com. With over 1,950,000 registered users http://www.bingo.com is one of the most recognized and most visited bingo entertainment destinations on the Internet.
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a “safe harbor” for forward-looking statements. Certain information included in this press release (as well as information included in oral statements or other written statements made or to be made by the company) contains statements that are forward-looking, such as statements relating to anticipated future success of the company. Such forward-looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect anticipated results in the future and, accordingly, such results may differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of the company. For a description of additional risks and uncertainties, please refer to the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Specifically, readers should read the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-KSB, filed with the SEC on March 28, 2008, and the prospectus filed under Rule 424(b) of the Securities Act on March 9, 2005 and the SB2 filed July 17, 2007, for a more thorough discussion of the Company’s financial position and results of operations, together with a detailed discussion of the risk factors involved in an investment in Bingo.com, Ltd.
For more information contact:
- Henry Bromley
- CFO
- ir@bingo.com
- (264) 461-2646