Australia's largest gambling company, Aristocrat, experienced a significant setback on Wednesday as its shares dropped more than 5 percent. The company's stock took a hit following the release of its full-year results, which indicated lower earnings and an underwhelming dividend due to challenges in the online revenue sector and the withdrawal from the Russian gambling market.

Despite a challenging environment, Aristocrat reported a normalised profit after tax of $948.5 million, marking a 15.7 percent increase for the full year ending on September 30. Group revenue also demonstrated strong growth, rising by nearly 18 percent to reach $5.6 billion. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) surged by 20 percent, reaching $1.9 billion.

Trevor Croker, the managing director and chief executive officer of Aristocrat, expressed confidence in the company's growth prospects. He noted that the performance of Aristocrat Gaming was robust enough to offset the challenges faced by the mobile-first portfolio Pixel United. Furthermore, Croker announced plans to launch Anaxi's iGaming platform next year. Anaxi represents Aristocrat's online gambling division.

Croker stated, "Strong performance in Aristocrat Gaming more than offset headwinds in the Pixel United business, again highlighting the increasing diversification and resilience of our group. While we are focusing first on the North American iGaming vertical, we ultimately aim to be the leading gaming platform within the global online real money gaming industry." Anaxi has already received regulatory approvals for its first eight games in the United States.

A notable factor contributing to Aristocrat's challenges was its decision to cease operations in the Russian mobile games market following Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. Historically, Russia had accounted for about 3 percent of Pixel United bookings.

Shareholders, however, received disappointing news regarding dividends. Aristocrat announced a fully franked dividend of 26 cents, to be paid on December 16. This fell short of consensus expectations of 31 cents, leaving investors less satisfied than anticipated.

Jefferies analyst Simon Thackray issued a hold rating on Aristocrat's stock and reduced the 12-month price target by 9 percent to $34.35. This price target is notably lower than the majority of other analysts' projections.

In response to the results, Ben Brownette of Jarden expressed feeling "slightly underwhelmed" after previously holding bullish expectations and anticipates marginal consensus earnings per share (EPS) downgrades.

As a result of these developments, Aristocrat's share price declined by 5 percent on Wednesday, closing at $35.98. The company now faces the challenge of regaining investor confidence and demonstrating its ability to navigate the complex and ever-changing landscape of the gambling industry, both online and offline.