Total revenue at Allwyn accelerated 97.5% to €7.87bn (£6.75bn/$8.53bn) in 2023, in a year bolstered by its acquisition of Camelot’s US and UK businesses and preparations to take over the UK National Lottery.
Allwyn – formerly Sazka – was formally awarded the fourth National Lottery licence in September 2022, following a competitive bidding process also involving The New Lottery Company, Sisal and Camelot. It began operating the UK National Lottery last month and will continue to do so for the next ten years.
The announcement that Allwyn was the preferred applicant for the licence sparked ire from Camelot and International Game Technology (IGT). Both launched High Court challenges over the decision – ultimately, Camelot’s was dropped and IGT’s was dismissed.
Just three days into January 2023, Allwyn confirmed that it would acquire Camelot’s US business, Camelot Lottery Solutions (Camelot LS). The acquisition was completed in March, with the terms of the deal undisclosed.
Camelot LS was later rebranded to Allwyn North America. This came after Allwyn agreed to acquire Camelot UK in November 2022.
Gross gaming revenue also shoots up in FY
Robert Chvatal, CEO of Allwyn, said 2023 represented a year of delivering on Allwyn’s strategy in reference to inorganic growth.
“I am pleased to report that 2023 was another year of strong financial and operational performance and strategic progress,” said Chvatal. “We continued to execute our growth strategies successfully, while maintaining our relentless focus on safer play and accountability to all our stakeholders.
“2023 was another year of delivery of our strategy, with the acquisitions of Camelot UK and Allwyn LS Group, as well as a further increase in our stake in OPAP in our Greece and Cyprus segment,” he continued. “Through our inorganic growth strategy, we continue to expand our footprint and capabilities.”
Gross gaming revenue (GGR) accounted for €7.54bn of the overall revenue for 2023, up by 98.0% year-on-year.
Allwyn also provided financials based on the exclusion of the Camelot acquisitions that took place in 2022 and 2023. Taking these out of the picture, revenue would have been €4.24bn for 2023, representing a 6.4% rise from FY22. GGR would have totalled at €4.07bn, up by 6.8%.
Growth across the board in 2023
Turning to Allwyn’s performance geographically, Allwyn performed best in the UK in 2023, with revenue hitting €3.92bn. However, this represented a decline of 3.9% yearly. It attributed this in part to limited opportunities for product and channel growth towards the end of its previous licence. Greece and Cyprus revenue came to €2.18bn, up by 7.0%, bolstered by positive operations in igaming.
Revenue in Italy ticked up 2.3% to €2.29bn and Austrian revenue totalled at €1.53bn. Meanwhile, revenue generated in the Czech Republic grew 10.2% to €519.3m, which Allwyn said was due to strong performances in Numerical Lotteries, Instant Lotteries and igaming. In total for these markets, net revenue hit €3.58bn, an increase of 41.7%.
Operating EBITDA was up 17.8% to €1.33bn. After considering €150.4m in EBITDA adjustments, the total adjusted EBITDA was €1.48bn, representing growth of 27.1%. At the year’s end, Allwyn had an adjusted free cash flow of €1.38bn.
Coming back to Allwyn’s 2023 performance excluding the Camelot acquisitions, net revenue is calculated at €2.70bn, a 7.0% increase year-on-year. Operating EBITDA would have been €1.15bn, while total adjusted EBITDA would have hit €1.31bn.
Fourth quarter performance seals off successful year
In terms of Allwyn’s Q4 performance, revenue was €2.17bn for the quarter, up by 96.5%. This also accounted for 27.6% of the overall revenue total for the year. GGR was €2.07bn, a rise of 96.7% and making up 95.4% of the revenue for the year.
Net revenue was up 29.5% to €987.8m during the quarter. Operating EBITDA was €336.8m and adjusted EBITDA came out at €388.5m.
For Allwyn’s geographical segments, total revenue in Austria dipped 1.4% to €397.1m in Q4. Allwyn attributed this to weaker results in its Numerical Lotteries. However, net revenue edged up 1.1% to €215.2m.
Czech Republic revenue was €144.6m, up by 9.0%, helped by “significantly lower” marketing expenses. The 6.9% growth in Greece and Cyprus, meanwhile, was due to ongoing improvements to Allwyn’s customer proposition. Q4 revenue for the United Kingdom fell 1.9% to €975.3m, all of which was GGR.
