Finance Archives

January 12, 2023

Catena earns record revenue from Ohio sports betting launch

Catena Media said it recorded its strongest-ever start for a US state launch of licensed online sports betting.

The Malta-based affiliate revealed that according to its preliminary data, new registrations in Ohio have led to engagement levels that surpass its launch in New York in 2022.

“This is without doubt our strongest state sports betting launch period to date,” said Ryan Harper, vice-president of Catena Media North America.

“We’re delighted to see strong traffic on our websites in relation to the Ohio launch. Player engagement in licensed sports betting has been very solid.”

Catena operates in Ohio through its national brands including Legalsportsreport.com, Gamingtoday.com, Thelines.com and Lineups.com, as well as through strong regional websites such as Playohio.com.

Operating in over 20 regulated states and provinces in North America, Catena recorded revenue of €80m (£71m/$86m) in the 12 months to September 2022, representing a growth of 33% from 2021.

Ohio launches spor..

January 6, 2023

Bet365 revenue ticks up, but marketing costs lead to 88% profit decline

Bet365’s revenue ticked slightly up in 2021-22 as gaming growth offset a sports betting decline, but increased customer acquisition costs in new markets led to an almost 90% drop in profit.

Bet365 reported that revenue from sports and gaming for the year ended 27 March 2022 was up by 2.9% year-on-year to £2.85bn.

The increase was mostly due to the success of its gaming operations. Sports gaming revenue was down by 2% from 2020-21, while gaming revenue was up by 25%.

This would suggest sports betting revenue for 2021-22 of around £2.30bn, while gaming revenue would fall around £546m.

Bet365 revenue was up by 2.9% year-on-year to £2.85bn.

The operator said that the decline in sports betting revenue was margin-based, as the total amount that was wagered increased and the number of active customers was up by 48%.

Regulus Partners noted that Bet365’s margins in 2020-21 were “unusually high”, and that in 2021-22 they came back to more typical levels. It said that on an underlying bas..

January 4, 2023

Tab NZ misses profit budget again in November

Tab NZ again fell short of its monthly profit budget in November despite surpassing its gross betting revenue (GBR) target for the month.

Tab NZ, New Zealand’s sports betting monopoly, said while major events such as football’s 2022 Fifa World Cup, horse racing’s Melbourne Cup and the NZ Trotting Cup helped it to surpass turnover and GBR levels, gross betting margin and profit missed budget.

Retail traffic continued to hold strong following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions and the overall field size across all three codes was up on the year-to-date average. Other factors such as continued competitive pressure from unregulated offshore operators, reduced betting margin and lower average bet size in key customer segments impacted the figures.

Tab NZ had already warned in early December that due to it missing budgets a number of times in recent months, it would have to reduce distributions to racing codes across New Zealand by 9% for the 2022-23 financial year ending 31 July 2023.
..

January 3, 2023

Nevada gambling revenue slips to $1.22bn in November

The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) reported a 7.6% year-on-year decline in gambling revenue for November, though statewide revenue exceeded $1.00bn (£833.8m/€946.8m) for the 21st consecutive month.

Revenue for the month amounted to $1.22bn, which was down from $1.32bn in November of 2021 and also 4.7% lower than $1.28bn in October 2022.

Slots remained the primary source of revenue in Nevada, with revenue from the machines amounting to $871.1m, up 1.3% year-on-year. Multi-denomination slot machines generated for $460.8m in revenue, with penny slots at $300.6m.

Read the full story on iGB North America

December 20, 2022

Pennsylvania smashes igaming revenue record again in November

Online casino revenue in Pennsylvania hit a new record-high for the second consecutive month in November, while total gambling revenue in the state increased year-on-year.

Overall market revenue for the month amounted to $452.4m (£373.5m/€426.9m), up 4.6% from $432.5m in November 2021 and also 0.5% ahead of $450.2m in October of this year.

Analysing the monthly performance, retail slots remained by far the primary source of revenue for the state, generating $185.6m in revenue for the month, level with the previous year. However, retail table games revenue slipped 4.4% year-on-year to $79.2m.

Read the full story on iGB North America

December 20, 2022

ParlayBay secures additional €1.0m in funding

Sports betting content provider ParlayBay has secured a further €1.0m (£875,292/$1.1m) in funds during a recent interim financing round.

ParlayBay said it would use the money to support its commercial growth plans in 2023 – including the launch of its ParlayPowers promotional tools – and to continue to expand its network of clients around the world.

This year, ParlayBay closed deals with operators including TipoBet365, TOPsport and Hub88, while most recently it signed an agreement with 7bet, with the operator to become the first to incorporate ParlayBay’s real-money gaming suite.

In addition, earlier this month, igaming veteran and Yggdrasil founder Fredrik Elmqvist joined the ParlayBay board of directors.

“We’re really pleased to have raised a considerable amount in our most recent funding round, especially given the current challenging climate,” ParlayBay chief executive Patrick Nordwall said.

“Fredrik joining our board is a fantastic addition as we ramp up our growth going into..

December 19, 2022

Player receives €14,000 in German illegal sports betting reimbursement case

The Köln Regional Court has confirmed that a player has been reimbursed for €14,000 (£12,195/$14,845) after placing bets with unlicensed sports betting operator Brivio Limited.

The plaintiff had participated in sports betting on Vulcanvegas.com between 2020 and 2022. This website is operated by Brivio Limited, which is based in Cyprus.

The plaintiff’s losses were estimated to be €14,000.

Unlike previous cases, which dealt with activity before the Fourth State Treaty on Gambling came into effect in Germany, this case included activity up to 2022.

Brivio Limited did not have a licence to operate before or after the Treaty took effect, meaning that its post-treaty activity was also illegal.

Reimbursement

The court said that the operator had violated the State Treaty on Gambling as it did not have a licence to operate.

The judgement was made by default as Brivio Limited did not defend itself against the lawsuit in court.

As well as being ordered to pay the losses, Brivio Limited m..

November 25, 2022

GB gross gambling yield recovers to almost £10bn in 2021-22

Great Britain’s gross gambling yield (GGY), excluding lotteries, increased 16.5% to £9.93bn ($12.0bn/€11.53bn)
from April 2021 to March 2022.

The figures were supplied through industry research from the Gambling Commission.

While this is a significant rise, the total is 0.8% below the 2019-20 numbers, which mostly occurred pre-pandemic. Despite the increase in the headline numbers since this, the Commission reports that the number of bettors in the sector have fallen.

“Since Covid-19 restrictions were lifted in 2021 and products and opportunities to gamble are available to consumers again, the overall percentage of the adult population who gamble remains lower than it was pre-Covid (28%),” said the Commission.

This can be explained by gaming spend increasing to a proportionally larger extent than the number of consumers. However, as the Commission outlines, there are strong signs of increased participation in gambling activities from younger demographics.

“There are signs of a r..

November 25, 2022

Waterhouse VC: Crunch time in the US

In his latest column, which goes live first on iGB, Tom Waterhouse of Waterhouse VC scrutinises the gambling stock performance in the US, and the variable of customer acquisition costs.

As discussed in our June newsletter, investors in US online wagering operators are growing impatient with the losses recorded for the sake of gaining market share.

One reason we focus primarily on suppliers over operators is because operators rely heavily on their customer acquisition cost (CAC).

In mature, highly taxed, regulated markets, a handful of operators earn the majority of profits because they have the lowest CAC and the best operational efficiencies.

ONE-Year Performance of Operators with Exposure to US Online Wagering.

Sportsbet take 2

Flutter’s third quarter results demonstrated FanDuel’s (Flutter’s US brand) clear market leadership. It has a 42% gross gaming revenue (GGR) market share in mobile sports betting and 18% market share in igaming.

As shown above, Flutter is the only opera..

November 22, 2022

PressEnter announces management buyout

The senior team at PressEnter Group, the igaming operator formerly known as BetPoint, is to take charge of the business through a management buyout.

Terms for the buyout have been agreed with PressEnter’s existing investors.

Chief executive Lahcene Merzoug and a team of senior executives will then take control, with Merzoug named the operator’s executive chairman once the deal completes.

Management said PressEnter, who operate online casino brands such as 21.com, JustSpin, NeonVegas Casino, NitroCasino, UltraCasino and RapidCasino, in addition to the XLBet sportsbook, offers “significant growth potential”.

New chapter for PressEnter

“The management team sees this as a new chapter for the business and will be reviewing existing strategies and processes to maximise new opportunities, grow the business and focus on the company’s core strengths,” PressEnter said.

Lahcene Merzoug will become executive chair of PressEnter following the buyout

“The management team has worked hard fo..

November 18, 2022

The view from Latvia

More than two years on from the country shutting down all legal gambling for two months, what is the current state of the Latvian market? iGB talks to TonyBet Latvia and Estonia country manager Valters Rozmanis to find out more.

It’s one of those thought experiments that naturally comes up from time to time in this industry – what would happen if a country just abolished gambling overnight?

How would consumers adjust? Would they abstain entirely or move in droves to the unregulated black market, outside the remit of both the taxman and a socially responsible regulator?

Latvia provides something of a natural experiment in this regard. In April 2020, as the first wave of Covid-19 lockdown measures were announced, fearing for the wellbeing of their citizens, the 40th government of Latvia announced a complete ban on all forms of online and land-based gambling.

The shutdown, which ran from 6 April to 9 June, pitted a modern, digital-savvy European country against the mawing forces of th..

November 18, 2022

New Jersey betting revenue down as challengers struggle in October

Sports betting revenue in New Jersey declined by 7.4% year-on-year to $77.9m, as revenue for its leading brands increased but challengers in the market struggled.

This figure came as players bet $1.06bn on sports, down by 18.1% from October 2021’s record-high $1.30bn. Of this total, $987.6m was placed online, with the remaining $72.6m placed in person.

The Meadowlands, with a FanDuel betting skin, continued to easily lead the market with $45.4m in sports betting revenue, up 3.0%. In second place was Resorts Digital, which has partnered with DraftKings and brought in $17.2m, up 8.0%

BetMGM partner the Borgata was the only other operator to crack even a 3% market share, bringing in $9.5m, up by 18.7%.

Read the full story on iGB North America

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Tag: Finance