FL Entertainment saw revenue of €489.3m in its online sports betting and gaming segment in H1, up by 23.3% year-on-year.
FL Entertainment’s online sports betting and gaming segment is generated by the Betclic Everest Group, which owns both German-facing Bet-at-home.com and Betclic.
The overall revenue was €1.92bn for the six months, an increase of 6.8% year-on-year. Content production and distribution revenue was €1.43bn.
François Riahi, CEO of FL Entertainment, said the overall revenue was due to increased unique active players in its online sports betting and gaming segment, as well as FL Entertainment’s business model.
“We delivered excellent first half results that demonstrate the strength of our differentiated and complementary business model, as well as the creativity and agility of our teams,” said Riahi.
“Our online sports betting and gaming business maintained its double-digit revenue growth across all activities thanks to an increased number of unique active players and our geographic and product diversity.”
Sports betting and gaming segment
In the sports betting and gaming segment, sportsbook revenue accounted for a majority of the overall total, at €389.2m. However, the biggest jump in revenue came from the casino segment, which grew 40.5% to €65.4m.
Poker generated €28.6m in revenue, while the remaining €6.1m came from turf betting.
This growth was attributed to “the growing player database, the product improvement and a favourable sportbook margin.”
FL Entertainment noted that unique active players grew 36.0% during the half year.
H1 profit
Breaking down the overall expenses for the six months, external expenses totalled at €993.5m, up from €861.3m. FL Entertainment noted this was due to an increase in betting tax, which is in line with the upward swing in sports betting and online gaming activity.
Staff costs totalled €679.1m, while depreciation and amortisation expenses came to €60.3m. Other operating expenses hit €26.7m. Operating income was €5.7m.
After this was considered, operating profit for the period was €169.4m, down by 0.6%.
Other costs – including net debt and other costs – totalled at €147.0m. Following the share of net income from associates and joint ventures at €1.3m, the pre-tax income was €21.1m.
After income tax expenses at €9.5m, the net profit for the six months was €11.6m, €29.8m higher than in H1 2022.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) totalled at €327.3m, up by 8.8%.
By location
In terms of location, FL Entertainment saw much of its revenue – €1.47bn – come from Europe. US operations accounted for €251.8m, while rest of world revenue was €201.0m.
For online sports betting and gaming alone, €471.1m of the revenue came from Europe and €18.2m came from rest of world. No revenue was recorded from the US for this segment,
Earlier this week, FL Entertainment-owned Bet-at-home reported a 9.3% fall in gross gaming revenue for the first half of the year.
FL Entertainment noted that Bet-at-home’s operations had been discontinued in certain jurisdictions. Moves to withdraw from certain markets had been brewing in the last two years, with Bet-at-home announcing its withdrawal from the Austrian market in 2021.
During that period, Bet-at-home also withdrew from the Maltese market and had its licence suspended by the GB Gambling Commission.
