Despite unfavourable economic and political conditions, Gauselmann Group closed the 2019 business year with an increase in sales revenues of 6.7 per cent. The family owned international gaming giant achieved an increase in cumulative sales revenues of all group entities to 3.42 million euros. Adjusted for intragroup sales, fully consolidated sales revenues showed a year-on-year increase from 2.41 billion euros (2018) to 2.58 billion euros in 2019. Company founder and Chairman Paul Gauselmann described the performance as being. “An excellent result that we owe in large measure to our dedicated and motivated employees – to whom I would like to say a heartfelt thank you.”
The figures also confirmed the importance of international operations for the Gauselmann Group. “Before Corona, sales revenues abroad were rising continuously. This made us less dependent on our core market of Germany, where the legislative framework has unfortunately been deteriorating for years,” Paul Gauselmann stated. “More and more new restrictions are causing gamers to migrate in huge numbers to unlimited or even mostly illegal offerings, for example on the Internet or in back rooms, where youth and player protection do not apply. This often makes it difficult for us to adequately fulfil the objective of the State Treaty on Gaming to keep people’s natural gambling instincts in check.”
Prior to the outbreak of the pandemic the Gauselmann Group’s economic equity also grew. The capital base was up 10.7 per cent (108 million euros) to 1.116 billion euros, corresponding to an equity ratio of 66.4 per cent. The high ratio was a result of Gauselmann Group’s sustainable corporate strategy, which focuses on continuous investment and long-term business success. Paul Gauselmann explained: “This acted very much in our favour particularly during the lockdown period. It meant that despite the Europe-wide closure of our 800 gaming arcades, the many hundreds of sports betting outlets and the ten German casino venues and casinos aboard cruise liners, we were able to focus on preserving all of the nearly 14,000 jobs across the company.”
Sascha Blodau, General Manager Gauselmann (UK) believes the latest economic performance figures reflect the importance of markets such as Britain in the Gauselmann Group business development strategy. He stated: “Gauselmann has made and continues to make a significant investment in the market here in the UK, an investment that currently totals more than £200m. Across all of our UK-facing brands comprising Blueprint, Merkur Slots, GeWeTe and Regal we aim to provide the very best integrated gaming solutions and in the process, continue to make an important contribution to Gauselmann Group sales revenues.”