Online and retail sportsbetting and gaming operator Paddy Power Betfair released its preliminary financial results for 2017 yesterday showing that it experienced a 13% increase year-on-year in net revenues to £1.74 billion ($2.41 billion) thanks in large part to a 16% rise in annual sports takings.

Dublin-headquartered Paddy Power Betfair explained that its annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization reached £473 million ($655.85 million), which represented an improvement of 18% year-on-year, to leave it with an operating profit that was 19% better off than in 2016 at £392 million ($543.54 million).

Paddy Power Betfair stated that the start of 2017 saw it fully integrate its European online platform with all of its resources ‘now focused on developing customer-facing products’ while it plans to spend approximately £20 million ($27.73 million) over the course of this year to ‘boost’ its Paddy Power brand in the United Kingdom as well as its Betfair proposition internationally.

“The business saw continued good growth in 2017 with operating profits increasing by 19%,” read a Wednesday statement (pdf) from Peter Jackson, Chief Executive Officer for Paddy Power Betfair. “Our Australian and retail operations performed particularly well, growing profits by over 40%.”

Jackson proclaimed that Paddy Power customers can now enjoy ‘the fastest sportsbook app’ on the market while his firm intends to focus its ‘considerable development resources’ in bringing even more products to punters with some of these set to be premiered in advance of the start of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in mid-June.

London-listed Paddy Power Betfair moreover declared that it is ‘well positioned ahead of regulatory changes’ in the United States and Australia thanks to experiencing ‘leading customer propositions and continued strong performance’ over the course of 2017 and hopes to see its medium-term leverage hit one to two times its net debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization ratio in order to improve the efficiency of its ‘capital structure’.

“Our scale, leading customer propositions and strong balance sheet mean we are well positioned ahead of the regulatory and fiscal changes expected in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States,” read the statement from Jackson. “Our strengths in operating efficiently and responsibly will enable us to build a business that can sustainably generate shareholder returns over the long term.”