LONDON (AFX) – Ryanair Holdings PLC, Europe’s largest no-frills airline, said it has launched an online gaming partnership with jackpotjoy.com, the on-line bingo operator owned by Gamesys.
The Dublin-based carrier said the deal will allow passengers to play ‘Ryanair Bingo’ as well as instant win games while booking their flights, car hire, and hotels on its website, www.ryanair.com. More than 80 games will be available, with jackpots in excess of 200,000 stg.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary told a news conference in London that the airline hopes to allow passengers to access the service via their mobile phones or by terminals handed out on the aircraft by mid-2007.
Passengers will be able to play the games via Ryanair’s website from today, but the inflight service is unlikely to be available until the airline gets approval for technology enabling the use of mobiles on aircraft. O’Leary said Ryanair expects to receive that by Christmas or January and to be able to roll out the technology next June or July.
He did not give any forecasts for revenues from the gaming service, but said Ryanair expects revenues from ancillary services as a whole to grow by about 20 pct a year over the next five years. Ancillary services currently make up about a fifth of the airline’s total revenues.
‘We think the revenues from the website would be relatively small compared to what we could get on the aircraft,’ he added.
For the first week, all bingo and instant win customers will receive a ‘free flight’ as a special introductory offer. The offer is subject to them opening an account and registering with Ryanair Bingo/Jackpotjoy.com. It is also subject to availability and excludes taxes and charges.
Ryanair sees gambling as a way of improving its ancillary revenue stream. In its first quarter to end-June 2006 ancillary revenues grew 31 pct, outpacing passenger traffic growth.
The group, which last month launched a 1.48 bln eur hostile offer for Aer Lingus Group PLC, reports second quarter results on Nov 6.
