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June 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 24
Czechia online gambling up by 175% in 2018
People in the Czech Republic gambled a record CZK249.5bn (€9.66bn) in 2018, up by 11.3% year- on-year. The volume of prize paid increased by 18.4% to CZK218.2bn (€8.44bn). The amount of money inserted in gambling machines fell by 11.5% to CZK101.4bn (€3.9bn) in 2018, while on the Internet it rose by 175% to CZK43.1bn (€1.67bn), according to the data by the General Financial Directorate, the Czech News Agency reported.
The biggest share, almost three fifths, was repre- sented by technical game, including particularly vending machines, up by 10.9% y/y, to CZK144.5bn (€5.6bn). The gross income of betting offices fell by 21.4% to CZK31.3bn (1.21bn).
At the end of last year, the number of casinos fell by more than a third to 1,801, following the in- troduction of a new Gambling Act that came into force in 2017, according to the Finance Minister Alena Schillerova. The Act introduced a two-stage permitting procedure in the gambling houses and limited so-called special operating modes, i.e. gambling in the restaurants, bars or gas stations.
Exchange bets accounted for 27.8% of all bets in 2018. Their volume grew by 7.6% y/y to CZK69.5bn (€2.7bn). In the stone branches, it grew by 8.2% to CZK6.3bn (€243.8mn), on the internet by 7.5% to CZK63.2bn (€2.45bn).
Russia's HeadHunter boosts results in 1Q19 after NASDAQ IPO
Leading Russian online job search portal Head- Hunter boosted revenues by 32% to RUB1.68bn ($26mn), the company said on June 4.
Adjusted Ebitda soared by 76% to RUB774mn, with net profit jumping by 185% to RUB373mn. The company will pay 75% of 2018 profit or RUB750mn in dividends.
HeadHunter carried out a successful IPO on
NASDAQ, on May 9 placing 16.3mn ADRs or 32% of capital at $13.5 per ADR, the upper range of price guidance. The shares of the newcomer jumped by 24% in the first two trading day. As of June 3 Head- Hunter's capitalisation stood at $857mn.
The offering was the first Russian IPO on NASDAQ since 2013, when another two digital majors TCS banking group and Qiwi electronic payment sys- tem listed on the exchange. HeadHunter enjoyed high demand, with the book for the IPO oversub- scribed more than 10-times, according to Kom- mersant daily.
The shares of the HeadHunter were sold by High- world Investments (59.99% of the shares), ELQ In- vestors VIII (investment division of Goldman Sachs Group, holds 40%), selling 9.8mn and 6.5mn of ADRs (American Depository Receipts) and raising $132mn and $88mn from the IPO, respectively.
HeadHunter is the leader in the online recruit- ment segment in Russia with over 50% market share as well as in several neighbouring Russian- speaking countries. In 2018 the classifieds market grew by 28% to RUB10.3bn, according to J'Son & Partners estimates cited by Vedomosti daily.
Yandex launches AI-powered smart home gadgets and video stream features
Yandex, the NASDAQ-listed Russian Internet gi- ant, announced two high-tech, AI-related novel- ties, reports East-West Digital News (EWDN).
The company unveiled what it touts as “Russia’s first smart home ecosystem.” It is powered by Alice, the smart assistant, which Yandex launched two years ago and made the news in sometimes surprising ways.
“Alice can now turn on lights, adjust a thermostat, control a TV, or even make coffee,” claims Yandex, which has dealt with such manufacturers such as Philips, Redmond, Samsung and Xiaomi to make their smart home products compatible.