The W Prediction Game Presented by Gaming Society was released today (18 May), ahead of the 2023 WNBA season.
The game will allow fans to make predictions on WNBA match-ups throughout the 2023 season, utilising the Weekly Pick ‘Em and Live Gamification prediction games.
According to the Board, the Betsson subsidiary illegally targeted players in mainland Finland with its marketing efforts across a number of channels and medias for an “extensive” period.
The Finnish Lotteries Act states only Veikkaus, the country’s gambling monopoly, is allowed to market its gambling offering to Finnish consumers.
The Board said BML was presented with several opportunities to submit a statement on its views and to change activities to comply with law. During the hearing process, BML set out certain changes it had made to marketing, but the Board said that the targeting of Finnish players had continued.
“The National Police Board estimated that BML has significant financial interest in continuing the activities and found that the illegal activities have continued for a long time regardless of the Board’s previous control measures,” the Board said.
“The National Police Board reviewed the measures undertaken by the company to reduce marketing, and they were considered a mitigating factor when the amount of the conditional fine was determined.”
The prohibition on marketing applies to any materials on Betsson’s BML website that either directly or indirectly promote the sales of gambling services in mainland Finland.
It also covers any communications targeting Finnish consumers, featuring Finnish celebrities in a campaign that is attractive to consumers, podcasts that target mainland Finland, and articles published with the aim of promoting gambling services in the country.
In addition, the prohibition applies to marketing BML services on websites other than those owned and administered by the group, whereby the group offers financial benefits to the marketer.
To comply with the prohibition, BML must refrain from publishing new sales promotion material targeting mainland Finland on its gambling websites, remove all previously published sales promotion material, and refrain from marketing on other websites.
As part of the ruling, BML will also be added to the list of payment blocks administered by the National Police Board when the prohibition enters into force on 3 June.
“If BML continues to target its marketing of gambling services at mainland Finland despite the prohibition, the Board will take action to enforce the imposed conditional fine,” the Board added.
The 92,659 NDCs added during the three months to 31 March was partially due to a strong performance in ‘Paid Media Partnerships’, which was acquired in the final quarter of 2022.
While chief executive Robert Andersson noted that revenue was down from Q4 of last year, the group witnessed more positive trends in April, with Acroud on track to post year-on-year growth across a number of areas in 2023.
“The first quarter has been very much business as usual while tuning in our new addition of the media unit,” Andersson said.
“The decrease in revenue was primarily a result of unfavourable sports results in February. Had it not been for the football results last week of February, we would have delivered growth in revenue and profit respectively. These clusters of unlikely sports results tend to even out over time.
“We have been addressing the performance within the casino SEO business such as focusing much more on the revenue share model. This will over time lead to increased stability in revenue even if it initially hits the top line.”
Revenue for the quarter reached €9.3m, up from €7.0m in the same period last year, but down 7.0% from €10.0m in the final quarter of 2022.
Breaking this down, igaming affiliation revenue was 103.0% higher year-on-year at €6.0m, while excluding the impact of the new acquisition, revenue was still up 26.0%. NDCs in this area jumped 12.0% to a record 76,917.
Of this total, 78% came from revenue share agreements, 10% cost per acquisition and the remaining 12% other activities. Acroud also published a breakdown of revenue by affiliation type, with paid media generating 63%, SEO 27% and social-and community-based 9%.
Turning to the software-as-a-service (SaaS) business, revenue was 23.0% higher year-on-year at €3.0m, but down 12.0% from Q4 of 2022. NDCs also increased by 7.0% from Q1 of 2022 to 15,742.
In terms of spending, costs were higher across both personnel expenses and other external expenses, with the latter being the main outgoing at €6.2m. These rises outweighed the rise in revenue, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) falling 5.8% to €2.1m.
Acroud also accounted for €1.1m in depreciation and amortisation, as well as €860,000 in net finance costs, meaning pre-tax profit was €115,000, down 90.9% year-on-year. The group paid €182,000 in income tax, leaving a net loss of €67,000, compared to a €1.2m profit in 2022.
“We continue our journey to deliver growth, profitability and shareholder value,” Andersson said. “And with this said, I am very much looking forward to the coming quarters.”
Last year, FansUnite set out a strategy to focus on its US affiliate-centric businesses, primarily Betting Hero, with plans now in motion to expand the brand by providing additional services through Hero Research and Hero Hotline.
This approach also led to streamlining certain business units to maximise cost efficiency and improve overall revenue growth, resulting in the recent sales of strategic assets such as BetPrep and McBookie.
FansUnite also announced the acquisition of Chameleon gaming platform in the weeks following Q1 and secured additional funding from Tekkorp. Chief executive Scott Burton said this approach will help the business to pursue growth and further improve financial results in 2023 and beyond.
“The work we began in 2022 to reduce costs and streamline operations are being reflected in our results,” Burton said. “We are going to continue our focus on growing our high margin and profitable US affiliate-centric businesses, primarily Betting Hero and its new divisions.
“The affiliate side of our business has continued to produce substantial revenues while having a strong foothold in the affiliate business. The focus moving forward will be to execute on new revenue opportunities while driving improved margins and positioning FansUnite as a business that generates significant cash flow in the global gaming market.”
For the three months to 31 March, revenue reached CAD$8.7m (£5.2m/€5.9m/US$6.5m), down 10.3% from $9.7m in the same period last year, reflecting streamlining of certain operations as part of the wider cost-saving initiative.
Cost of revenue was 13.2% lower at $3.3m, but gross margin also declined by 8.5% year-on-year to $5.4m.
Expenses were reduced by 1.7% to $11.6m while FansUnite also noted $787,000 worth of interest and other income, as well as $137,000 in revaluation of contingent consideration.
Current tax stood at $67,000 and deferred tax $737,000, resulting in a net loss of $6.2m, down from $9.2m in the previous year. FansUnite also accounted for a negative impact of $117,000 from foreign currency translation, meaning comprehensive net loss was $6.3m, in contrast to $11.2m last year.
Better Collective believes that the performance in Q1 was driven by “Latin America and state launches in the US as well as general strong underlying organic growth”.
CEO Jesper Søgaard emphasised that the progression of the business from being “a business to being an integrated collective of businesses” has had an impact on these results and that mergers and acquisitions will remain part of the strategy.
“The past year and onwards, our M&A strategy is to acquire strong local and global sports media with a large and loyal readership, preferably with revenue mainly generated from a single business model in regular advertising.”
Søgaard also explained that Q1 was a period where the company was heavily focusing on its AdTech platform. Announced in its Q4 report, the data analytics tool is something the company believes “will be able to offer targeted marketing ads directly to the millions of sports fans that visit the Group’s broad portfolio of sports brands.
“Several third party platforms already exist, and as Better Collective has been highly acquisitive, we have managed to accumulate several AdTech platforms.”
Better Collective reported revenue growth of 30% with €88m (£77m/$95m) from the €67.4m the company recorded in 2022.
Its net interest-bearing debt to EBITDA ratio sat at 2.30, up from 2.01 in 2022.
Also revealed was that operating profit before depreciation, amortisation and special items also grew with €33.2m in Q1 2023, an increase of 44% from €23.1m last year.
Of this revenue, publishing was responsible for 67% with €59.2m and paid media making up the remaining 33% with €28.7m.
Within this period, Better Collective entered into multiple publishing partnerships including one with football platform Goal, Punch in Nigeria and Polish news portal Wirtualna Polska.
The largest increase for the quarter came within paid media, which saw its specific operating profit before depreciation, amortisation and special items grow by 174% year-on-year from €2.9m to €7.9m.
Better Collective puts this growth in paid media down to a broad-based performance including “a breakthrough in the North American market as well as continued good performance in Latin America.”
The company’s revenue continues to largely come from its more established markets with Europe and the rest of the world (ROW) accounting for 58% of the group’s revenue and the North American market making up the other 42%.
The EBITDA margin before special items for Europe and ROW saw a 37% increase in the same period in 2022, while North America saw a 39% increase for the same metric.
The company also announced that its cost base has increased from €44m to €55m, a 25% growth in spending.
Better Collective puts this increase largely down to the AdTech platform and LATHAM expansion totalling €4.7m in the period.
The 2023 financial targets, set in 2022 and upgraded after the Skycon acquisition in April 2023 for £45m remain the same.
The company has set a revenue target of €305m to €315m, EBITDA before special items of €95m-€105m and net debt to EBITDA before special items under 2.0.
The figure would surpass initial expectations of between £90.0m and £95.0m, which was based on events in the early to middle part of the year. It would also be 2.1% higher than £97.0m in the previous year.
HBLB said the increased forecast comes amid a continuing decline in turnover, which was being partially mitigated by margins. Actual margins were markedly above average in both February and March, during which turnover fell year-on-year.
“The board will be making decisions on prize money for the September to December period at its meeting next month and this likely outturn provides additional clarity in coming to those decisions,” HBLB chairman Paul Darling said.
“Although overall yield looks to be similar to or slightly up on last year, total turnover and race by race turnover are down overall and were consistently down from July to the end of the levy year.
“The board will need to consider carefully what assumptions to make about future yield given this trend.”
With this, Darling warned that bookmakers’ collective initial estimates for 2023-24 are for a materially lower yield than in 2022-23.
Since the reform of the levy collection remit in 2017, HBLB recorded a mixed set of results, with these impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic that began in 2020.
The 2020-21 figure stood at £83.0m, with HBLB noting that no racing took place in the first two months of the levy year due to the pandemic.
For 2019-20, HBLB reported £98.0m in levy income, with 2018-19 at £84.0m and 2017-18 £94.0m.
Spain’s gambling regulator, General Directorate for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ), detected possible match-fixing violations through its Global Betting Market Research Service (SIGMA) unit.
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs signed an agreement with the General Directorate of the Police, the division of the Ministry of the Interior responsible for the country’s National Police, to carry out the criminal investigation into potential match-fixing.
Under the agreement, the National Police will be permitted access into the SIGMA database and will be charged with investigating the alerts raised by the system in sports events and betting.
Launched through Spain’s October 2022 overhaul of the country’s gambling laws, SIGMA is a body that is designed to enable organisations registered on its network to cooperate to mitigate match-fixing and fraud through the processing of personal data.
At present the network includes a number of entities involved in Spanish professional sports including the National Sports Council, sports federations, professional leagues and licensed gaming operators. The organisation is managed by the DGOJ.
In order to monitor the progress of the initiative, the DGOJ and DGP are to create a “Monitoring Commission”. This body – which is to be created within one month – is to meet once a year, although can be convened at any time if requested by any of the two government departments.
The agreement, which also ensures data shared between the organisations is confidential, is valid for a four-year period.
Governor Wes Moore approved bill SB621, which will become effective on 1 July 2023. Maryland’s sports betting market opened on November 23 2022.
The content assessed by the evaluators will be that produced by sports betting experts, influencers and content partners.
After the Kwiff ad appeared on the page, the ASA challenged whether the ad was “appropriately targeted”, citing rules stating that marketing communication must not be directed at those aged under-18 years old either through the section of media or context in which they appear.
While the ASA ultimately upheld the ruling, Eaton Gate Gaming challenged the determination. The operator pointed out that the ad that the company featured on the news section of the Portsmouth FC website, but not on the “Join the Blues” membership pages or any or section of the site dedicated to children or young people.
Eaton Gate also emphasised that the behavioural targeting that the business used was a “precise and accurate tool” used to get maximum return of ad spending, therefore limiting underage viewing.
The company said that the software targeted individuals in specific profiles, made up by age, location and interests and excluded the under 18s.
The business highlighted the ASA guidelines that state that “relevant tools should be used for targeting and any ads directed at audiences based on data held targeting measures should be used to minimise the chances of those in the protected age category from seeing them.”
The operator however acknowledged that even with effective use of technology, there was a small chance that the ad would be seen by a minor.
Despite these factors the authority opted to uphold the judgement. While the body note the sophisticated targeting tools used by the operator, the ASA said that it assesses the media alongside which the ad was served before considering further aspects of how the ad was targeted.
The body noted that the ad which the ad appeared alongside was headlined “Join the Junior Blues” and outlined membership packages available for the three junior supporter groups for Portsmouth FC.
“The content of the page therefore was of immediate interest to young people as it exclusively related to services aimed at under 18s,” said the watchdog. “That was compounded by the presence of an image of the Portsmouth FC mascot on the article, a dog, that was presented on the page in cartoon form.”
“Because the ad appeared in the context of a web page that was directed at those younger than 18 years, it did not comply with the rules on gambling advertising.”
The company saw its revenue drop from €45.2m (£39.4m/$49m) to €36.2m, a 20% decrease year-on-year.
Catena CEO Michael Daly says that the drop was expected and can be put down to the success the company saw in its US launches in 2022.
“(Revenue) decreased slightly due to challenging comparatives created by the record-breaking launch of online sports betting in New York in Q1 2022 and the go-live in Louisiana in the same quarter,” Daly said.
Daly also heralded the highlight of the market quarter being the legalisation of online sports betting in Ohio on 1 January 2023.
“The dedicated efforts of our North American team to maximise the advantageous timing just ahead of the February Super Bowl led to one of our best ever launches, albeit some way behind New York in gross revenue terms,” he said.
Catena saw more than its total revenue decrease in the period from 2022, but also its adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations dropped by 7% from €22.1m to €20.5m.
The company’s new depositing customers (NDCs) also fell by 3% in total, with the North American arm of the business seeing the greatest decrease of 4% in NDCs.
Some revenue did increase in the period, namely casino-based activity in North America by 8% year-on-year to €10.4m and sports-based activity in the rest of the world markets by 5% to €3.2m.
In terms of Catena’s revenue, North America makes up 83% with the rest of the world markets making up the other 17%. The company also has an 81% CPA model, with 16% on revenue share and 3% on fixed agreements.
Casino-based activity across all markets for Catena saw a 5% drop in revenue but did see an adjusted EBITDA increase of 18% from €6.9m to €8.1m.
At the end of the quarter, Catena also notes how its partnership with Lee Enterprises in the US has already shown “promising initial indications”.
Sport-based activities also saw the same 5% drop in revenue but also had a 19% decrease in adjusted EBITDA from €15.2m to €12.4m.
The company also saw its direct costs rise to €4.1m in what it says is down to “increased media and influencer partnerships, mainly in North America”.
Catena did see its personnel expenses decrease as well, which is due to it laying off 25% of its European staff base in November 2022.
Another significant strategy impacting the business is the business review it undertook in 2022 which resulted in asset sales and a “closer strategic focus on regulated markets in North America.”
Catena says that it remains open to strategic alternatives and structural options, which could include an eventual share listing in the US.
