Pretax profits at online gambling business QuinnBet more than quadrupled during 2020 to €1.673 million.
Turnover at the business, which is owned by the family of Seán Quinn, was €8.8 million during 2020.
In June 2020, the Cavan-based business secured a licence from the UK Gambling Commission. Securing the licence "will make a big difference for 2021", QuinnBet managing director Stephen Kelly told The Irish Times.
Up to last year, the QuinnBet website was being run by a licensed operator FSB Technology UK Ltd, which operates sites for a number of client brands under what are called “white label” arrangements.
QuinnBet has 31 full-time and seven part-time employees, Mr Kelly said, a substantial increase on 2020. The business has experienced a number of years of strong growth, with profits in 2018 having been €157,705.
The business is owned by Brenda Quinn, a daughter of Seán Quinn, and the eleven grandchildren of Mr Quinn, whose shares in QuinnB Sports are held in trust.
The trading company, Belbridge Consultancy Ltd, was incorporated in 2016, a year and a half after Mr Quinn emerged from bankruptcy. The holding company, QuinnB Sports Ltd, was incorporated a year later. Mr Quinn ceased to be a shareholder in 2019.
The QuinnBet website offers bets on real and virtual sporting events, as well as online casino options. The group operates in Britain and Ireland.
The current directors of QuinnB Sports are chairman Denis Kelly, non-executive director Val Flynn, and managing director Stephen Kelly, (who is not related to the chairman).
Stephen Kelly is the husband of Mr Quinn’s daughter Aoife. Mr Flynn is a London-based businessman with a background in aviation. Denis Kelly is a former chief executive of a Gibraltar-based online gambling business.
Mr Quinn’s senior business empire, mostly based on the Cavan/Fermanagh border, was seized in 2011 because of multibillion euro debts due to Anglo Irish Bank.
The debts were linked to trading in high-risk financial instruments that allow investors make large returns, or large losses, depending on the direction taken by a share price.
