500.com, a leading Chinese digital sports lottery company, saw a substantial rise in their final quarter earnings for 2020. The company announced a 5% gain, hitting 9 million yuan (roughly $1.4 million USD), in comparison to the corresponding period in 2019. This also indicated a considerable 48% leap from their preceding quarter earnings of 6.1 million yuan.
Notwithstanding this upward trend, the firm still posted an operational deficit of 51.4 million yuan for the fourth quarter. Nevertheless, this was a marked betterment from the 307.1 million yuan deficit incurred in the parallel timeframe the year before. Likewise, their overall deficit shrank from 322.7 million yuan in 2019 to 56.1 million yuan in 2020.
Throughout the entirety of 2020, 500.com declared a combined revenue of 21.8 million yuan, a reduction from the 39.7 million yuan generated in 2019. Their operational shortfall for the year stood at 190.8 million yuan, and the net shortfall totaled 223.2 million yuan, a significant enhancement from the 651.3 million yuan deficit disclosed in 2019.
In a calculated maneuver, 500.com unveiled a share purchase contract with Lotto Interactive Limited. The transaction entails a 105 million Hong Kong dollar (approximately $13.5 million USD) infusion, which will elevate 500.com’s ownership in Lotto Interactive from 33.7% to 54.2%. This strategically places Lotto Interactive to transform into a branch of 500.com.
Acknowledging the burgeoning promise of blockchain technology and digital currencies, and motivated by Lotto Interactive’s triumph in Bitcoin extraction, 500.com’s executive board has resolved to redirect the company’s concentration towards these nascent domains. To that purpose, they have inked an accord to procure 5,900 Bitcoin mining devices from a non-American vendor for a grand total of roughly 55.2 million yuan (approximately $8.5 million USD). This strategic shift implies that 500.com aims to leverage the profitable cryptocurrency sector as a component of its expansion plan.
