Online gambling site Bwin.party has said it is "close to selling its social gaming business as it issued a profit warning after its worst quarter of sports betting payouts in more than two years," according to Kadhim Shubber of the FINANCIAL TIMES. Bwin.party, one of Europe's "largest online gambling operations, said it was in 'active discussions' to sell Win." Bwin said in a statement, "We haven't managed to get the level of business volume that we had hoped." A strong performance from leading European football teams in the final quarter "had forced it to warn on forecasts as it recorded 'exceptionally weak' fourth-quarter gross margins in its sports betting division." Goodbody analyst Gavin Kelleher said that the "poor margins were not expected to affect the company's performance" in '15 and that strong performances from teams like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid had "made trading more difficult for bookmakers." Kelleher: "The main football teams that people bet on in the main European markets of Spain, Germany and Italy have been unfavorable for bookmakers, particularly in December" (FT, 12/31).
