Month: May 2023

DoubleDown framed the “solid” Q1 results as a consequence of the company’s strong business model, highlighting that it often achieved adjusted EBITDA margins of more than 30% in addition to “significant” cash flow.

Chief executive Keuk Kim said that the company continued to benefit from strong player engagement in the business’ flagship social casino game DoubleDown Casino and therefore intended to focus on growing player monetisation. This is to be accomplished through the development of new casino-wide features.

Kim further hinted at the company’s expansion into new verticals for the year ahead.

“We are also deploying capital to expand our business into new gaming categories such as igaming through our previously announced acquisition of SuprNation, which is expected to close later this year,” he said.

DoubleDown revenue down year-on-year in Q1

Revenue for the three-month period stood at $77.6m, a 9.2% decline from the $85.5m the company achieved in the first quarter of 2022. However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis the results were an improvement on the $76.2m reported by DoubleDown in Q4 2022.

The business reduced its operating costs to $52.2m from the $60.8m reported by the developer in the same period the previous year. DoubleDown highlighted that this was a consequence of a lower cost of revenue due to lowers sales, as well as decreased marketing and amortisation expenses.

In 2022, a $270.0m one-time impairment charge significantly affected the business’ results for the year.  

DoubleDown’s adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation or amortisation (EBITDA) also experienced a moderate fall, declining 5.6% from the $26.9m recorded by the company in the prior period. However, the adjusted EBITDA margin increased on the other hand to 32.8% from 31.5%.

The business said that the adjusted EBITDA decline resulted from the lower revenue reported by the organisation in the previous period, while the higher margin was “primarily attributable” to a lower marketing expense for the same period.

Business has “significant optionality” to deploy resources

DoubleDown’s internal metric average revenue per daily active user increased to $1.03 from the $0.97 achieved by the business in the first quarter of 2023.

Overall, the business ultimately increased its profits over the year. Net income stood at $23.7m in Q1 2023, a 28.1% rise from the $18.5m previously recorded by the company.

Kim hinted that the company was in a strong position to engage in further M&A or investment activity.

“Our ongoing initiatives to further optimise our core social casino business has positioned DoubleDown to deliver consistent attractive annual free cash flow,” said Kim.

“As a result, we have a strong balance sheet with more than $100 million in uncommitted capital which provides the company with significant optionality to deploy resources to enhance shareholder value.

“We are off to a strong start to the year and believe we have the right strategy and operating initiatives in place to continue our solid performance over the balance of 2023.”

Q1 was the first full quarter since the group set out plans to restructure its existing esports business operations and expand its focus into a wider range of markets, after it completed a strategic review in December last year.

At the time, Allied said focusing on broader array of entertainment and gaming products and services, as opposed to seeking a single business combination transaction, would be in the interest of shareholders.

Allied’s chief executive Yinghua Chen said the group advanced on its strategic objectives in Q1 and that this will help it to continue to gain momentum in the Q2.

“It has been a strong start to the year so far at Allied and we are continuing to gain momentum in the second quarter as we advance on our strategic objectives,” Chen said. “We are also excited to have recently announced our continued relationship with HyperX/HP on the Arena branding side and renewal of sponsorship from Progressive Insurance on our original content programs. 

“These growing relationships are further evidence that Allied is recognised as an established name in the gaming entertainment community and that we offer an inroad to this crucial and fast-growing multi-billion-dollar gaming marketplace.”

Q1

Revenue for the three months to 31 March was $1.2m (£953,613/€1.1m), down from $2.2m in the corresponding period last year.

This decline, Allied said, was mainly due to the timing of its original ‘Elevated’ content series, which recognised revenue for season one in Q1 of last year and is expected to recognise revenue for season two in the second quarter of 2023.

The business also noted that revenue was relatively flat on a quarter-on-quarter basis from Q4.

In terms of spending, costs and expenses were 38.7% lower at $3.8m, helped by a reduction in general and administrative expenses, principally cash, severance and stock-based compensation, as well as the timing and related expense recognition of the Elevated series.

The decline in expenses meant operating loss was cut from $3.7m to $2.7m, while after also including $761,904 in other income, including $734,449 in interest income, this resulted in a net loss of $1.9m, compared to $3.8m in 2022.

Allied also noted a positive impact of $1,880 in foreign currency translation adjustments, which meant total net loss was $1.9m, in contrast to $3.7m last year.

According to the FA, Clark placed 312 bets on football matches between 8 February 2022 and 10 March 2023. 

This, the FA said, was in breach of Rule E8 on betting, which bans any player, match official and coaches from level eight in the English football pyramid and upwards from placing bets on games anywhere in the world.

As such, the FA charged Clark with misconduct, giving the defender until 17 May to issue a response.

Clark plays for Accrington Stanley, which was relegated from League One, the third tier of English club football, in the 2022-23 season. He was with the club for the entire period in which he placed the bets.

Prior to joining Accrington in the 2021-2022 season, Clark played for Port Vale, while he also had spells with the youth teams of both Aston Villa and Leicester City.

Clark is the latest professional player to face betting charges from the FA, which late last year also found Ivan Toney of Premier League club Brentford in breach of Rule E8.

Toney was initially found to have breached this rule 232 times between 25 February 2017 and 23 January 2021 – a period in which he was playing in leagues outside of the top tier Premier League in England.

Following further investigation by the FA, the organisation alleged that Toney breached this rule an additional 30 times between 14 March 2017 and 18 February 2019.

HJR 102 cleared the House by a vote of 101-42 yesterday (May 11) and will now progress forward to the state’s Senate for further debate.

Should it pass into law, the constitutional amendment itself would not legalise wagering, but would permit a state-wide vote to be held on the issue. This would take place at an election on 7 November this year.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

The programme was approved at Kambi’s extraordinary general meeting on 30 June 2022.

The company said that the buyback was occurring to gain capital for its shareholders and to give its board flexibility in regards to the company’s capital structure.

All share acquisitions took place on Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Stockholm by Carnegie Investment Bank AB, on Kambi’s behalf.

As of 9 May, the operator held 630,476 of its own shares. The total number of issued shares is 31,278,297.

A maximum of 3,106,480 shares can be repurchased under the programme, to a maximum of €7.2m.

Last month, Kambi reported revenue of €44m for the first quarter of 2023.

Under the deal, Betr will pay $2.2m in cash and $1.5m in equity at closing, as well as $2.2m in cash and $1.5m in equity during the 12 months after the transaction completes.

Chameleon offers a suite of gaming solutions including player account management (PAM), sports betting engine and casino management. 

Betr said that the acquisition will allow it to vertically integrate PAM, sports betting engine, online casino technology and other future potential Betr Gaming verticals into its direct-to-consumer platform. 

This, Betr added, will accelerates its broader sports betting market coverage and igaming capabilities, including the ability to launch a fully integrated sportsbook and casino, while also helping the business to save on long-term product costs.

“We are thrilled to acquire the Chameleon platform from FansUnite and to also welcome the engineering team that has been working on this platform for several years to the Betr family,” Betr’s founder and chief executive, Joey Levy, said. 

“This is a transformational transaction for Betr that enables Betr Gaming to fully control our ability to execute against our core strategy, while also capturing a material amount of gross margin for our business model.

“Our current product experience is very much a beta product, which we refer to internally as V0 of the Betr product experience. With the Chameleon platform and team we can now immediately begin work on developing V1 of the Betr product experience, which we expect to launch during H1 2024.”

FansUnite chief executive Scott Burton added: “With this transaction, we have again proven both our commitment and our ability to put FansUnite on the path to profitability. Additionally, we are pleased to continue to benefit from the tremendous potential we see in Betr through our equity stake in the company.”

The deal comes after FansUnite earlier this month also completed the sale of its Scottish-focused sportsbook and online casino McBookie to an arm’s length third-party.

The identity of the buyer was not disclosed, but it was confirmed that the deal was worth over CA$5.0m, more than double the $2.2m that FansUnite paid to acquire McBookie in March 2020.

Consumers in Maryland can download the SuperBook Sports app or visit the website and place bets across a wide range of sports and competitions.

Players can also wager in-person at the new SuperBook Bar & Restaurant at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the home of Major League Baseball franchise the Baltimore Orioles. The facility features 38 televisions and an LED wall for watching live sports events.

Read the full story on iGB North America

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) gave final approval for the platform’s launch earlier in the year. Kindred is currently active in the New Jersey gaming market through its flagship Unibet brand.

The company described the new platform as an “important” step in rolling out the enhanced offering throughout all its gambling services in the US.

Kindred said the platform improves the customer experience through customisable and personalised content and products and gives Kindred access to better analytics and flexibility. The company added that this will allow the operator to create a safer environment for its consumers.

Kindred enhanced platform live in New Jersey

Kindred CEO Henrik Tjärnström said he was “proud and grateful” of the product the business’ team had created.

“However, the true winners are our customers in New Jersey who now will have access to a platform that will give them a safer and more enjoyable gambling experience,” he said.

“We are now preparing to roll out the tech platform to all the states we operate in. Our aim is to migrate Pennsylvania to the Kindred platform during the second half of the year.”

The US is not the first market Kindred has launched its tech platform in, having already integrated the system into Kindred’s European and Australian brands.  

In April, Kindred said it was conducting a review of “strategic alternatives” that it said could result in a potential sale, merger or partial sale of the business.

The quarter was eventful for Sportradar. The company penned a number of new deals with organisations such as cricket team Delhi Capitals and World Aquatics.

Sportradar also expanded deals with Biathlon Integrity Unit and Big Ten Network, as well as launching its Insight Tech Services suite.

Carsten Koerl, CEO of Sportradar, said that the quarter was bolstered by top line growth – which was due to the success of Sportradar’s Managed Betting Services (MBS) and Live Odds in the period.

“We started fiscal 2023 on solid footing, as we continued to deliver strong top line growth, predominately by growing our value add products such as MBS and Live Odds in the rest of world business and strong, profitable growth in our US segment,” said Koerl. “We are also demonstrating operational leverage as we continue to focus on cost discipline across the organisation and invest prudently to grow our top line.”

Koerl added that, going forward, Sportradar’s developments in the artificial intelligence (AI) space would help the business to continue its growth.

“We are confident that our ongoing product innovation in AI and computer vision will enable us to remain a market leader and increase shareholder value for our investors.”

First quarter results

Revenue generated from rest of world betting totalled at €108.5m, a rise of 25.1% compared to Q1 2022. This accounted for 52.2% of the total revenue for the quarter.

The remaining revenue came from rest of world AV, which totalled at €44.6m, and revenue from the US, which was €39.7m.

Numerous costs greatly affected Sportradar’s revenue. Personnel expenses hit €77.4m for the quarter. Purchased services and licence costs – which exclude depreciation and amortisation – were the second highest for the period, totalling at €48.4m.

Depreciation and amortisation costs were the third highest, hitting €47.6m. This was followed by other operating expenses at €21.2m.

The remaining costs consisted of impairment loss on trade receivables and other financial assets, share of loss of equity-accounted investees, foreign currency losses and finance costs.

After taking €4.8m in finance income and €5.3m in internally-developed software capitalised cost into consideration, the pre-tax net income was €10.7m.

Following income tax expense at €3.9m, the total profit for the quarter was €6.8m, a rise of 17.0%.

Melco chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho outlined the recovery the city’s gaming industry has made in 2023 compared to the previous year.

“We have seen a very encouraging start to the recovery in Macau during the first quarter of 2023, following the relaxation of border restrictions in early January,” he said.

“We continued to see improving momentum into April and Golden Week in May, with mass market table games drop and mass gross gaming revenue during the Golden Week period exceeding the same period in 2019.

Worst year on record

In 2022, Macau casinos saw their worst year on record as heightened restrictions, including a summer lockdown, pushed revenue for the Special Administrative Region down to $5.2bn. This was down 51.4% from 2021 and 85.5% from its pre-pandemic 2019 total.

The business recorded $0.4m in operating profit for the three-month period ending 31 March, significantly better than the $135.9m operating loss the business announced the previous year.

Melco’s property adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation or amortisation (EBITDA) rose 240.7% from $56.0m to $190.9m.

However, when factoring in the business’ debt obligations and liabilities, Melco reported a net loss of $81.3m for Q1. This compares with the $183.3m announced in the same period the previous year.

City of Dreams adjusted EBITDA recovers

The company’s flagship Macau City of Dreams integrated resort casino saw revenue rise 39.6% year-on-year to $358.3m for the period, compared to the $256.7m the business achieved in the same period the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA rose from $44.4m to $94.9m at the casino-hotel complex.

The business said that the year-on-year increase in EBITDA was “primarily” a result of better performance in the company’s mass market table games segment, as well as the resort’s non-gaming operations.