Betsson continues strong igaming performance as sports begin recovery

Betsson

The Betsson Group is anticipating that an accelerated transition from offline to online could potentially increase the firm’s organic growth opportunities and create chances for strategic acquisitions at attractive prices. 

Lauding the €33m purchase of the Gaming Innovation Group’s B2C operation, onboarding 60 employees in the process, as well as praising US entry achieved in Colorado, Betsson again lambasts online casino restrictions imposed in Sweden.

“In the beginning of the third quarter, when most countries had removed Corona-related restrictions, Sweden sadly enough implemented restrictions on online casino, without empirical evidence. This measure will unfortunately push even more consumers to play outside of the Swedish regulation,” stated Pontus Lindwall, president and CEO of Betsson.

The comments come as the online betting and gaming group publishes its latest financial update, which shows that group revenue for the year’s second quarter increased 20 per cent to SEK 1.53bn (2019: SEK 1.27bn). 

Casino revenue increased 40 per cent to reach SEK 1.28bn from SEK 917.8m and represented 84 per cent of group revenue. Mobile casino revenue was SEK 925.6m (2019: SEK 631.1m) and accounted for 72 per cent (2019: 69 per cent) of total casino revenue. 

Sportsbook revenue in the second quarter was SEK 226.5m (2019: SEK 341m), and represented 15 per cent (2019: 27 per cent) of the total figure.

Gross profit for the quarter jumped 12 per cent to SEK 958.5m (2019: SEK 858.9m), with EBITDA growing six per cent from SEK 304.2m (2019: SEK 287.4m).

On a year-to-date basis, revenue reached SEK 2.95bn, representing a 13 per cent increase from SEK 2.6bn, with gross profit up eight per cent to SEK 1.9bn (2019: SEK 1.75bn) and EBITDA boosted four per cent to SEK 657.1m (2019: SEK 633.2m).

Lindwall explained: “I am proud that Betsson has delivered all-time high revenues under the most challenging conditions. The second quarter was strong and followed the positive trend from the start of the year despite market challenges during this extraordinary period. 

“The global pandemic had an immediate effect on the company from March onwards. We responded quickly and decisively to make changes in the offer, and I am particularly pleased to see the strong performance in casino. 

“Sports betting revenues continued to be impacted in the second quarter by the pandemic as expected, however benefited from the progressive return of football and other sporting events at the end of the quarter. Our business has remained financially robust and resilient to this impact, being both diversified and flexible.

“Our key focus areas remain the health and safety of both our employees and the societies in which we operate. Early on, we proactively took actions to enable both a safe and effective working environment for the whole group and to ensure delivery of products and services to customers with uninterrupted quality.”

Adding: “The immediate outlook is naturally uncertain, however Betsson is in good shape and we are in it for the long term. Our proprietary technology is a strategic advantage, our diversification in markets, verticals and brands makes us resilient to market fluctuations and our financials are rock solid. This makes me optimistic about the prospects for Betsson.”