CasinoBeats is breaking down the numbers behind some of the industry’s biggest stories. Our latest headline reflection features a financial update on Ontario’s gaming ecosystem, Q3 results from Betsson and Evolution statements on the recent strike action in Georgia.
86%
iGaming Ontario (iGO) has once again reported total wagers of over CAD$18bn in its second quarter of 2024-25 fiscal year (Q3 2024), with online casino having an 86% share of the Canadian province’s total wagers.
From Ontario’s 51 operators with 83 gaming websites in Q2, iGO reported that total wagers for the quarter, not including promotional wagers (bonuses), stood at $18.7bn, a 1.6% increase in comparison to the previous quarter and a 31.7% increase year-over-year.
Total gaming revenue rose in comparison to the previous quarter and YoY, rising by 1.7% and 35.4% respectively to $738m.
iGO stated that the total gaming revenue figure “represents total cash wagers, including rake fees, tournament fees, and other fees, across all Operators, minus player winnings derived from cash wagers and does not take into account operating costs or other liabilities”.
In Q2, iGO noted that over 1.32 million player accounts were active, with the average monthly spend per account being $308.
Per vertical, total wagers in casino (slots, live and computer-based table games and peer-to-peer bingo) stood at $16bn, 86% of the total during the quarter. Casino gaming revenue was $553m, 75% of the total gaming revenue.
Betting (sports, esports, proposition and novelty bets, as well as exchange betting) had a total wagers amount of $2.2bn, 12% of Q2’s total. Betting’s gaming revenue amounted to $167m, 23% of the total during the quarter.
€280.1m
Betsson reported a group revenue increase of 18% compared to the same period last year to €280.1m (Q3 2023: €237.6m).
In constant currencies and adjusted for acquisition, revenue rose by 50.6% YoY. Share of revenue from locally regulated markets (€163m) increased to 58% (2023: €106m/45%).
Licence revenue for system delivery to B2B customers stood at €66.7m (2023: €55.9m), with new customers added and further sportsbook trading capabilities achieved through the 2022 acquisition of KickerTech, in addition to improvements and investments in casino and sportsbook products.
Customer activity rose in the quarter, with deposits rising by 19.8% YoY and reaching an all-time high of €1.48bn (2023: €1.24bn). Registered customers grew to 31.1 million, up 5.9% (2023: 29.4 million), while active customers increased by 9.8% to 1,357,953 (2023: 1,237,238).
Betsson’s EBITDA rose by 17% YoY to €80.3m (2023: €68.9m), with a margin of 28.7% (2023: 29%). EBIT increased by 15% to €64.5m (2023: €56m), with a margin of 23% (2023: 23.6%).
Net income fell slightly to €43.4m (2023: €46.2m), with earnings per share at €0.31 (2023: €0.35). Operating cash flow at the end of the quarter was €62.5m (2023: €44.9m), while net debt was €-128.3m (2023: €-65.5m).
“Yet again, new record levels in revenue and EBIT in the third quarter,” commented Pontus Lindwall, CEO of Betsson.
“The high customer activity continued during the third quarter with new record levels in customer deposits and gaming turnover. Yet again Betsson reports quarterly records in revenue and EBIT, which means the eleventh quarter in a row with sequential growth on the EBIT level.”
60%
Evolution CEO Martin Carlesund revealed the situation for the firm in Georgia is “stable” with its studio currently operating at around 60% capacity, a level that it hopes will remain after significant disruption caused by union strike action.
Updating investors, Carlesund revealed that the Georgian studio will not return to full capacity after the strike due to “instability”. Nonetheless, he added that with over 20 studios globally, they are able to offset lost capacity and limit the impact on their customers.
Carlesund stated that Evolution “fully supports” the right of workers to be part of a union. However, after much dialogue with the union in Georgia, he described their demands as “simply unreasonable”.
He went on to accuse the unions and the media of spreading “a lot of disinformation and blunt lies”, emphasising the importance of them acting in line with legislation as well as union values.
One of the key falsehoods that Carlesund stated had been spread was around the size of the strikes, as he stated around 300 staff were involved as it initially started, which caused minimal impact on the firm’s day-to-day operations.
This then escalated according to Carlesund, when “a small number of non-employees and union activists illegally blocked the entrance to the workplace, behaving violently, vandalising the building and harassing working staff’, which caused “severe disruptions” and led to the “sad outcome” of them moving operations.
“Naturally the outcome of this is not positive for customers” said Carlesund, who added that he recently met with regulators in Georgia who “see through the situation with the unions and base their judgements on facts and not social media”.
98%
Groupe Française des Jeux (FDJ) has announced that its shareholding in Kindred Group has increased to over 98% following the conclusion of its public tender offer extension.
Earlier this month, the French gambling group completed its acquisition of Unibet and 32Red operator for nearly €2.5bn, a transaction that had been in the works since an offer of SEK 130 in cash per Swedish Depository Receipt (SDRs) was submitted back in January this year.
Following the end of the first settlement delivery of the offer on 11 October, FDJ held 91.77% of Kindred’s share capital, tendering 195,659,291 Kindred SDRs, representing 90.66% of the group’s capital, alongside acquiring 2,400,000 Kindred SDRs directly from Veralda, representing 1.11% of the group’s share capital.
However, at the time, FDJ extended its offer to 18 October to allow for Kindred shareholders who have not tendered their shares to do so on unchanged terms. With that date now passed, the group has announced that an additional 14,734,917 Kindred SDRs were tendered, representing 6.83% of the share capital.
Following settlement delivery of the extended offer, expected to take place on 29 October, FDJ’s shareholding in Kindred will therefore be 98.6%.
Since FDJ holds over 90% of Kindred’s share capital, the group intends to “request the implementation of the squeeze-out procedure” following Kindred’s articles of association to acquire all the shares not tendered in the public offer, delisting Kindred’s SDRs from Nasdaq Stockholm.
