This has been a year of significant progress for the Group both in terms of financial performance and corporate developments. Agreement with the US Department of Justice in September 2010 was followed in August 2011 by the acquisition of Centrebet in Australia and the passing of regulations in two of our largest markets, Greece and Spain. Sportingbet is now well positioned to maximise the growth opportunities available to it as the global online gaming market continues to develop. We already have market leadership in around 50% of the territories in which we operate.
I am pleased to announce a strong set of financial results for the year with EBITDA increasing 11% to £51.4m. The benefits of operating across a broad geographical base were demonstrated with strong growth in our Emerging Markets division, Australia and some of our European countries, offsetting the economic weakness in two of our largest markets, Greece and Spain. This limited the overall decrease in revenue to 1%, although the comparative period did benefit from Football World Cup which is estimated to have benefited last years NGR by £8.5m. The decrease in revenue was more than compensated for at the profit level by tight cost control. In addition to the cost synergies being realised following the Centrebet acquisition, the focus on adjusting the cost base to reflect the economic conditions and the increased cost of newly regulated markets will continue over the coming periods.
Our overall strategy of providing a first class sports betting product offering customers an unprecedented number of betting opportunities at all times of the day, remains unchanged. Sports betting is our focus as it offers the greatest scope to differentiate our product from competitors and provides significant barriers to new entrants. Our long-term trading strategy has been consistently executed leveraging our proprietary best-in-class trading technology which has enabled us to deliver an outstanding trading performance. This success has been clearly demonstrated by an in:play margin of nearly 10% compared to 5% or less for our competitors. To provide a comprehensive suite of products for our customers, we supplement the core sports offering with casino, games and poker products bought in from the leading suppliers in the industry.
As the online gaming industry matures, governments across the world are recognising the significant potential contribution from online gaming tax revenues as a means to replenish national budget deficits and the need to bring in regulation to protect the consumer and provide a stable trading environment. We welcome these moves and have been exploring ways of increasing the percentage of our revenue derived from regulated markets.