Month: February 2023

The total revenue consists of net gaming revenue at SEK5.22bn, agency income of SEK234m and other incomes at SEK584bn.

Hasse Lord Skarplöth, CEO of ATG, said that the operator had delivered good results for the period – particularly in terms of sport and casino – regardless of outside challenges.

“I ended last year’s CEO speech by saying “we can look forward to an exciting 2022”,” said Skarplöth. “So, a year later, I can state that I got a little more right than I wanted – but in the wrong way.”

“ATG, during such a turbulent and troubled year, succeeding in increasing the net gaming revenue in both sports and casino by 8% and 49%, respectively, is a well-approved result.”

Specifically, Skarplöth was referring to recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the increase in inflation.

Full year break down

Net gaming revenue for the year fell by 0.6% yearly. The total consisted of SEK4.94bn from operations in Sweden and SEK283m from operations in Denmark.

Revenue from horse betting operations made up SEK4.04bn of the net revenue total, while sports betting revenue generated SEK650m. The remaining SEK530m came from casino operations

Gaming tax hit SEK1.07bn for the year, a rise of 1.0%, while personnel costs dipped further from SEK495m in 2021 to SEK529m in 2022. Other expenses grew by 4.5% to SEK2.51bn.

After considering these costs, as well as money from activated work for own accounts at SEK65m, and depreciation and write-downs with intangible and tangible fixed assets at SEK304m, the total operating profit for the year was SEK1.68bn. This was a decrease of 12.1% yearly.

Following results from financial items at SEK23m, the profit before tax totaled at SEK1.70bn. However, income tax totaling at SEK357m brought the total amount for the year to SEK1.35bn, a decrease of 11.1% compared to 2021.

Fourth quarter results

Turning to the fourth quarter ended 31 December, total revenue was SEK1.55bn – up by 2.8%. This consists of net gaming revenue of SEK1.33bn and agency income of SEK58m, plus other income at SEK57m.

The net gaming revenue was made up of SEK1.02bn in horse betting revenue, alongside SEK171m in sports betting revenue and SEK146m in casino revenue.

Gaming tax for the quarter totaled at SEK276m. Personnel costs came to SEK143m, while other expenses for the quarter were SEK629m. Money from activated work for own accounts was SEK17m for the quarter.

Depreciation and write-downs with intangible and tangible fixed assets totaled at SEK77m.

These costs and additions brought the operating results to SEK444m for the quarter, 11.2% lower than in Q4 2021.

Results from financial items at SEK13m brought profit before tax to SEK457m. After income tax at SEK322m, the total net profit was SEK135m – down by 16.6%.

During the quarter, ATG – alongside Kindred and PinBet – received warnings and penalty fines from the Swedish Gaming Authority in regards to anti-money laundering failures.

Also during the quarter, in October, ATG announced that it would publish its responsible gambling data every six months in a move towards transparency.

As part of the deal extension, a hub dedicated to betting now features on the Irish Sun’s website.

The partnership first launched in the UK in December 2022. GiG revealed that the deal had already delivered material revenues for the company.

In a statement, both GiG and News Corp UK and Ireland said the partnership is aiming to enter the US market by the end of Q1 2023.

Recent GiG updates

In earlier this month, GiG announced that it has initiated a strategic review to distribute its subsidiary, Innovation Labs Ltd, to shareholders.

If the split comes to pass, it will separate the business into two individual publicly listed companies.

Last month, GiG completed its acquisition of casino affiliate sites AskGamblers.com, Johnslots.com, Newcasinos.com and other small domains from Catena Media Plc.

At the time, GiG CEO Richard Brown said, “The acquisition also broadens our geographical footprint and increases revenue diversity both geographically and client wise, reducing the overall operational risk.”

In its open meeting today (23 February), the MCG agreed to replace the existing language in its regulation, which currently bans affiliates from the market by prohibiting cost per acquisition (CPA) and revenue share agreements.

The MGC went on to confirm that they have been working on amendments to the regulations of both licencing for sports wagering vendors as well as advertising for sports wagering advertising.

These amendments are currently still a period of consultation and will be voted on during an open meeting on March 23 2023.

Under regulation 205 CMR 256, subsection 256.01 (3) the law currently reads: “No sports wagering operator may enter into an agreement with a third party to conduct advertising, marketing, or branding on behalf of, or to the benefit of, the licensee when compensation is dependent on, or related to, the volume of patrons or wagers placed, or the outcome of wagers.”

A roundtable will be held by the MGC 26 February, with relevant companies and parties to gather public feeling and opinion on the topic before the amendments are put to vote.

Caesars cuts affiliate ties

iGB Affiliate understands that the affiliate team at Caesars Sportsbook informed partners that it would suspend all operations with affiliates in the state under the proposed regulations.

This includes fixed-fee sponsorships and media buying opportunities.

It remains to be seen if Caesars will wait for the official vote on 23 March before reversing its decision.

Introduced to the house by Republican representative Ethan Manning, House Bill 1536 aimed at opening up the state’s legal internet casino industry by September 2023.   

Among other measures, the bill would legalise online poker and allow the state’s casinos and Hoosier Lottery to offer online versions of games.

The bill proposed to tax on online casino revenue at 20% and allocate 10% of the tax money to the Addiction Services Fund.

Negative report

However, a negative fiscal report by the Indiana Legislative Services Agency warned of possible cannibalisation of the industry, citing “loss of tax revenues from displacement of gaming activities at brick-and-mortar casinos and racinos.”

The report noted that online casino would potentially reduce retail casino/racino AGR by $134-$268 million (£112m-£223m/€‎127m-€‎253m) each year.

This sparked fears that legalisation would come at the cost to the state’s existing domestic industry. While some have argued that the fiscal statement relied on outdated data, ultimately it did not matter.

The critical 21 February deadline – by which time the bill must be called for a hearing – passed without progress, meaning icasino will not progress this session.

The Hoosier state will now have to wait for 2024 to reopen the proposition as the state’s 2023 legislation schedule ends in April. 

If next year’s attempt is successful, the state could be seeing legal online casinos by autumn of 2024.

The B2C Betsafe offering in Ontario will include online casino and sports betting, with the brand to run on the Strive Gaming platform, which is part-owned by Betsson.

Players in the province will be able to gamble with Betsafe via native mobile apps and on the ot.betsafe.com local website.

Read the full story on iGB North America

The affiliate posted 96.2% year-on-year growth for operations, with business activities helping to increase new depositing customers (NDC).

However, Better Collective CEO and co-founder Jesper Søgaard said that sending 300,000 NDCs to operators during the World Cup in December 2022 – during the fourth quarter – negatively affected the company’s performance in the short term.

“It is worth noting that sending 300,000 NDCs during the men’s World Cup has had a short-term dampening effect on our performance because many NDCs were sent on revenue share contracts,” said Søgaard. “However, as stated many times over, this move brings a long-term benefit and builds for the future.”

Søgaard added that the affiliate’s focus for 2023 will be placed on the launch of new markets and future investments. 

“This year will expectedly have fewer large single events than in 2022,” he continued. “The main ones being the summer women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, and the launch of sports betting in Massachusetts. We will continue our growth efforts in LatAm and keep an eye out for new market opportunities.

“We will keep focusing on gearing our business for the future, which includes investing in a new AdTech platform and moving more US revenue to revenue share contracts.”

Q4 results

Looking at the fourth quarter results in full, revenue for the three-month period was 63.2% higher year-on-year at €86.1m (£75.9m/$91.6m).

This includes a 44% increase in organic growth, which the company says was driven by performances during the World Cup and the launch of the regulated sports betting market in Maryland. 

The affiliate also announced €35.2m in EBITDA, before special items including mergers and acquisitions. This was a growth of 115.4% year-on-year.

Better Collective also recorded a 52.2% increase in revenue for its publishing business for the quarter, which totalled at €59.2m. This figure includes revenue from the company’s proprietary sports media, partnerships in media and its esports communities. 

The publishing revenue accounted for 69% of the whole group’s revenues for the quarter.

The quarter also saw the affiliate deliver 580,000 NDCs to partnering sportsbooks, a growth of 117% year-on-year.

Full-year breakdown

Looking at the full year, revenue was up 52% to €269.3m.

This includes a recording of net profit of €48.1m after tax. 

The cost base for the affiliate company also increased by 50% from 2021 to €198m, which was impacted by the acquisition of Action Network in May 2021 for $240m along with continued investment in Better Collective’s US businesses. 

Income tax for Better Collective amounted to €16.9m compared to 2021’s €8.9m, an increase of 89.9%, with a deferred tax expense of €6.8m for the year.

While net debt to EBITDA before special items rose from 1.4 in 2021 to 2.67 in 2022, it still fell within the target of under 3 for the financial year.

The target for 2023 is a net debt of under 2.

Acquisitions in the year, which included Better Collective purchasing Canada Sports Betting for €21.4m in March 2022 and Futbin for up to €105m in April 2022, impacted net debt figures.

2023 targets

For 2023, the company set a revenue target range of between €290m and €300m, along with EBITDA before special items of €90m to €100m.

Alongside its results, Better Collective also announced a new share buyback strategy of up to €10m. ABG Sundal Collier (ABGSC) has been named as lead manager of the programme. The acquisition of shares will take place on Nasdaq Stockholm in compliance with the Nordic Main Market Rulebook for Issuers of Shares.

Under the agreement, ABGSC will purchase shares on behalf of the company without influence from Better Collective.

The affiliate can only buy a maximum of 4.7 million shares at €0.01 each under the terms of the programme. The buyback will take place between 22 February and 24 April 2023.

The infringement notice was issued after an ACMA investigation found BetDeluxe sent more than 104,000 SMS messages without an unsubscribe function and over 820,000 SMS texts that did not include the sender’s contact details.

Messages were sent between December 2021 and February 2022 and advertised a “cheeky punt” and “VIP service” on sports and racing, as well as promoted bonus bets and money-back offers. 

In addition to the penalty, ACMA accepted a two-year court-enforceable undertaking from BetDeluxe committing to an independent review of its e-marketing practices, and to make improvements where required. 

BetDeluxe was also ordered to give regular compliance reports to ACMA and provide spam training to its staff.

“We received complaints from a significant number of people, with many expressing their frustration about receiving promotions for gambling,” ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said.

“Any spam can be annoying, but when gambling is involved the risk of financial and emotional harm can be pronounced, so it’s important that wagering operators take compliance very seriously.

“We will be closely monitoring BetDeluxe’s compliance and the legally binding commitments it has made to the ACMA.”

This marks the second occasion in the past 12 months that ACMA has ordered an online gambling operator to pay a penalty in response to its spam enforcement measures. In February last year, Sportsbet paid $3.7m in penalties and customer refunds following an ACMA investigation.

Over the past 18 months, businesses have paid over $6.4 million in penalties for breaching spam and telemarketing laws, while ACMA also accepted 13 court-enforceable undertakings and issued one formal warning.

“The online gambling industry, including the smaller players, should be on notice that the ACMA is actively monitoring for indications of non-compliance with the spam rules, and the penalties can be serious,” O’Loughlin said.

Launched in 2019, Hacksaw Gaming will offer its suite of games, including Dead or a Wild, to players at William Hill.  

Other titles across Hacksaw Gaming’s slots, Dare2Win and scratchcard games are to be introduced in subsequent weeks.  

Marcus Cordes, CEO of Hacksaw Gaming, said the deal would allow the company to grow its presence across other markets.

“William Hill is an iconic name in betting and casino with a huge presence in the UK,” said Cordes. “This deal enables us to strengthen our footprint across key markets and we look forward to a lasting relationship with our new partner.” 

Global gaming content delivery manager at William Hill, Keiron Downs, said that William Hill has “high expectations” for the deal.

“It has been a long time coming but we are overjoyed to finally have Hacksaw Gaming games live as part of our portfolio,” he says. “We have high expectations for the catalogue of games we plan to release and hope these resonate well with our customer base.” 

State authorities confiscated the equipment – which included computers used as slot-style machines, freestanding slot-style machines and table-mounted gaming machines – along with over $23,000 (£19,033/€21,611) in cash from Cozy Barcade at 3280 South Waverly Road in Delta Township.

The raid took place on 16 February.

Read the full story on iGB North America

Irakli Garibashvili, the prime minister of Georgia, has signed off on a package of reforms to the country’s gambling laws, including new rules that limited online casinos to land-based organisations.

The reforms are the largest shake-up to the country’s gambling laws since 2021, when Georgia attempted to reform its regulatory regime due to safer gambling fears amid the country’s rise as a land-based gambling hub.

On that occasion, the Georgian parliament voted to rise the gambling age to 25, raise taxes on online gambling businesses by 70% and ban TV advertising, as well as bar public employees and the self-excluded from participating in gambling.

Ring-fenced casino licensing

Under the new rules the country’s ten land-based casino businesses – including the three largest entities Adjara Group, Crystalbet and Iveria – would be permitted to hold an online casino licence.

Similarly, the offering of online slots would be limited to retail slots parlours – as well as sports betting to physical bookmakers.

While additional online-only licences are now available, the government are requesting a fee of €1.6m per licence holder per year.

Alex Szilaghi, president of Szilaghi Consulting, says that this was a large fee considering the size of the region.

“In my opinion, it’s a huge amount of money for Georgia – not to mention for any country within the EU,” he says. “What they were trying to do is allow local companies to grow and to create an equal playing field for everybody.

“These changes will allow land-based casinos to have online casinos, and will also allow the companies who are interested in the online business to basically get the licence just for the online casino.”

Safer gambling push

Garibashvili has said that the reforms would be aimed at combating gambling harms, which have become an issue in recent years, particularly among younger demographics – which was the rationale for raising the gambling age to 25 in 2021.

Szilaghi also argues that the country’s gambling law is intended to ensure licence requirements are properly followed.

“Current efforts are also intended to block illegal gambling, as Georgia is one of the countries that is overrun with the activity,” he continues. “They needed a legal structure to be able to block that and to allow these companies to come in legally by requesting a licence.”

Last month, the Georgian city of Batumi announced that it would be hiking its gaming table and machine fees – a move that was criticised by the local industry.