The Stars Group Inc, today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2017 and provided 2018 full year financial guidance ranges, as well as certain additional highlights and updates. Unless otherwise noted, all dollar ($) amounts are in U.S. dollars.

“During the year, we strengthened our core senior management team, delivered another year of record revenues, significantly deleveraged and continued to strengthen our balance sheet, all while investing in marketing, growth initiatives and technology infrastructure to support the long-term growth of our business,” added Ashkenazi.  “In 2018, we are continuing to execute on our growth initiatives, including through geographic expansion, inorganic growth, and improving our focus on and understanding of our customers, and we are beginning to realize our goal of becoming the world’s favorite iGaming destination.”

Revenues for the quarter and year increased approximately 16.1% and 13.6% year-over-year, respectively. Excluding the impact of year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, revenues for the quarter and year would have increased by approximately 7.8% and 10.5%, respectively. Real-money online poker revenues and real-money online casino and sportsbook combined revenues represented approximately 65.1% and 31.2% of revenues for the quarter, respectively, and 66.9% and 29.3% for the year, respectively, as compared to approximately 70.0% and 25.8% and 73.2% and 22.9% for the applicable prior year periods.

Real-money online poker revenues for the quarter were $234.4 million, or an increase of approximately 7.9% year-over-year, and $877.3 million for the year, or an increase of approximately 3.7% year-over-year. Excluding the impact of year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, real-money online poker revenues would have increased by approximately 1.9% and 0.9% for the quarter and year, respectively. In 2017, The Stars Group saw a positive impact from its previously announced strategy of focusing on recreational players and the introduction of Stars Rewards, which helped counter certain regulatory headwinds, including the cessation of operations in certain markets, such as Australia and Colombia.

Real-money online casino and sportsbook combined revenues for the quarter were $112.5 million, or an increase of approximately 40.3% year-over-year, and $384.0 million for the year, or an increase of approximately 45.4% year-over-year. Excluding the impact of year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, real-money online casino and sportsbook combined revenues would have increased by approximately 28.9% for the quarter and 42.2% for the year. In 2017, growth in real-money online casino and sportsbook combined revenues was driven primarily by a combination of geographic expansion and product improvements.

Total long-term debt outstanding at the end of the year was $2.45 billion with a weighted average interest rate of 4.7%. As previously disclosed, on March 3, 2017, The Stars Group announced the successful repricing and retranching of its U.S. dollar and Euro denominated first lien term loans resulting in the reduction of the applicable interest rate margins by 50 basis points, removing the Euribor floor on the Euro denominated first lien term loans, and raising €100 million of incremental Euro denominated first lien debt and using the same to reduce its U.S. dollar denominated first lien debt. Throughout 2017.

The Stars Group also prepaid without penalty approximately $115 million under its second lien term loan using cash flow from operations, reducing the outstanding principal balance of such loan to $95 million. The Stars Group ended 2017 with approximately $283 million in operational cash on its balance sheet.

In May 2017, The Stars Group made its final payment on the outstanding balance of the $400 million deferred purchase price for its acquisition of Stars Interactive Group (formerly known as the Rational Group) in August 2014.