Category: Uncategorised

Net gaming revenue for the 12 months ended 31 December 2020 amounted to SEK7.67bn (£667.1m/€761.6m/$923.8m), down 9% from the previous year (excluding non-recurring revenue of SEK163m, which was all received in Q4)

The closure of the operator’s Casino Cosmopol chain of land-based casinos as a result of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic resulted in a SEK777m reduction in net gaming revenues, it said.

Excluding its land-based casino operations, which brought in SEK886m the operator saw a 1% increase in net gaming revenue to SEK6.78bn.

The Tur lottery division made up most of this revenue, up 2.0% at SEK4.84bn, while the Sport and Casino digital brand brought in SEK1.95bn, down 8.0%.

The operator said its digital business was growing strongly, accounting for 46% of revenue in 2020, compared to 35% in 2019. This was despite temporary measures on online casino including a SEK5000 deposit cap, which Svenska Spel said “squeeze revenue and reduce revenue growth”. The Tur lottery business also broke online sales records during Q4.

Operating profit for the group was down 3% from 2019 at SEK2.40bn. The closure of its land-based operations resulted in a SEK441m reduction in operating profit, the operator said. Net profit for the year came in at SEK1.87bn, down 31% on 2019.

Of the full-year net gaming revenue, SEK2.13bn was brought in during Q4, down 14% on the same period last year.

The closure of physical casinos reduced net revenues by SEK250m in Q4, resulting in a decrease of SEK121m in operating profit.

Excluding casino operations, however, net gaming revenue was up 3% for the quarter. Net profit for the period came to SEK547m, down 18% from Q4 2019.

“We have good profitability for the Group and strengthen the operating margin for both the quarter and the full year 2020, despite the fact that our physical casinos have been closed for three quarters.”

“As in the previous quarter, revenues for our Sport & Casino and Tur business areas are increasing. This shows strength and stability that two out of three business areas deliver growth despite the fact that they are also affected by covid-19 in the form of temporary gaming responsibility measures and reduced sales in stores,” said Patrik Hofbauer (pictured) president and chief executive of Svenska Spel.

In August 2020, the operator’s board decided to permanently close its casino operation in Sundsvall due to a decline in profits and footfall at the property. This decision carried a non-recurring cost of SEK81m, it said.

In November, Sweden’s government launched a consultation on extending temporary controls for online casino, including the controversial SEK5,000 weekly deposit limit, until June 2021.

The government said its aim was to better protect players throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

Keevill took over from Brent Scrimshaw as the lottery’s chief executive on 1 May 2020. Prior to this, he had been chief executive of creative agency Colour, where he had worked since 2002.

“The Board of Directors would like to take this opportunity to thank Chris for his contributions to Atlantic Lottery over the past several months,” Sean O’Connor, chair of Atlantic Lottery’s board of directors, said.

Daigle has worked at Atlantic Lottery since 1997, most recently as chief financial officer.

Read the full story on iGB North America

Total revenue for the 12 months through to 31 December amounted to €561.1m (£491.4m/$679.8m), up 53.4% from €365.9m in the previous year.

Evolution said while this was mainly due to increased commission from clients, it was also helped by its acquisition of NetEnt, which was finalised on 2 December last year. The combined business now operates under the name Evolution.

As such, Evolution’s financial results also included revenue from NetEnt in the final month of the year.

“Through the acquisition of NetEnt, we add a second vertical to our unrivalled live casino offer and two strong and fantastic new brands to our product portfolio,” Evolution chief executive Martin Carlesund said.

“This makes us well placed for our long-term ambition of taking a leading global position in online casino.”

In terms of spending during 2020, operating expenses amounted to €261.4m, up 25.5% from the previous year, with this increase mainly driven by costs related to the NetEnt acquisition. This led to an operating profit of €299.7m.

Earnings before interest, tax, deprecation and amortisation (EBITDA), adjusted for non-recurring items, was €351.6m, up 92.2% on 2019.

After accounting for €1.0m in financial items, profit before tax was €298.7m, up 89.9% from €157.3m in 2019. Evolution paid €14.1m in income tax, leaving it with €283.6m in total profit, an increase of 90.1% on the previous year.

“The pandemic has continued to be a factor throughout the year,” Carlesund said. “Our organic growth was solid already in the beginning of 2020, and I’m pleased to see continued strong demand with many new players and high activity in the network throughout the year.”

Evolution also set out details of its performance in the fourth quarter, the latter part of which included the NetEnt acquisition. Revenue in Q4 reached €177.7m, up 67.6% year-on-year, with €17.8m of this revenue attributed to NetEnt games.

In terms of geographical performance, €81.1 of revenue was generated from the provider’s rest of Europe operations, with the next highest amount (€41.9) being from Asia. The UK accounted for €13.9m of Q4 revenue, ahead of North America with €12.6m and the Nordics on €11.m. The remaining €17.1m was generated elsewhere.

Operating costs climbed 62.0% to €92.8m, including €19.4m in restructuring and acquisition costs related to the NetEnt deal, while EBITDA for the quarter was 107.2% higher at €115.6m.

Evolution noted €818,000 in financial items, meaning profit before tax reached €84.0m, up 72.8% year-on-year. The provider paid €3.4m in tax, meaning it ended the period with €80.6m in profit, an increase of 72.2% on the previous year.

“There is much to look forward to in 2021,” Carlesund said. “We enter the new year with an intense and successful 2020 behind us, a proven strong, competent and energetic team and tremendous business momentum.

“2021 is off to a strong start and I am excited to soon share more news from the group on how we plan to work with operators to take product innovation and player experience to the next level.”

The self-serve solution will allow Marathonbet to set up checklist parameters with bespoke criteria to check thousands of affiliate websites for content.

GiG said this will enable the operator to ensure affiliates are aligned with its brand and marketing message, as well as identify where to rectify potential promotional breaches.

“We believe this tool fits in seamlessly with our business objectives moving forward, providing us with the perfect service to manage our affiliate compliance operations,” Marathonbet affiliate manager Germán Soto Noche said.

“We look forward to GIG helping us ensure our affiliates can offer their audiences an outstanding user experience in line with regional regulations.”

GiG Media managing director Jonas Warrer added: “At GiG, we like to place the power in our partner’s hands and with the flexibility built into GiG Comply, Marathonbet can create bespoke compliance checks, which are tailored to their needs and market.

“This will not only help to ensure they remain compliant but will also help to safeguard their licence in multiple jurisdictions.”

The IBIA noted that while the number of reports was significantly lower than in 2019, it was roughly level with the amount recorded in both 2017 and 2018.

The alerts came across 48 different sports, but tennis was the most common with 98, while football was second with 61.

With table tennis and esports becoming much more popular betting markets in 2020 following the suspension of most sport across the globe in efforts to curb the Covid-19 pandemic, both also saw increases in suspicious betting reports.

Table tennis generated 44 alerts, up from 5 in 2019. Of these alerts, 26 were in the second quarter of the year alone. Esports saw 28 reports, compared to just 3 in 2019, with 26 occurring in the middle two quarters of the year.

“2020 was a turbulent year for many sectors including the betting industry, which had to adjust its market offering due to the global sports lockdown,” IBIA chief executive Khalid Ali (pictured) said. “As a result, IBIA focused its integrity monitoring activity to take account of new sports tournaments and competitions that emerged.”

The majority of alerts, 141, were flagged for events in Europe, with table tennis in Ukraine and tennis in Russia the two events most likely to generate alerts with 25 and 15 respectively. Table tennis in Russia saw a further 13 alerts. 

Asia followed with 45 alerts, mostly in football and particularly in Vietnam, while North America and Africa followed with 22 each, mostly in tennis with matches in the USA and Tunisia generating high numbers of reports. The remaining 12 reports were in South American football.

A total of 12 teams of players received either sporting or criminal sanctions based on the 270 matches that saw IBIA reports. The IBIA said that its data was used in determining these sanctions, which included lifetime bans, for several of these cases.

IBIA alerts are generated first through member operators, which flag suspicious activity to the association and all other members. If the IBIA determines after a review that the event deserves further investigation, it then raises a suspicious activity report to the sport’s governing body and any relevant regulators.

Ali said that IBIA had been making efforts to improve integrity in events that had seen a recent increase in popularity. These efforts included the creation of new betting data collection best practices.

“The association is seeking to work with stakeholders to address any potential integrity issues that may be associated with these new events through a range of actions, including promoting a set of standards for the collation of sports data for betting,” Ali said.

Stats Perform has become the first data provider to sign up to these standards, which state that all data collection must be carried out by people aged 18 and above, whose identities have been verified and who have passed background checks. Data providers must also make clear the method in which data was collected and must carry out risk assessments for all events in which data is collected.

Revenue for the year declined to DKK5.96bn (£704.2m/€801.8m/$971.8m), with land-based gaming affected by nationwide lockdowns from March to June, then again from November 2020 due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. 

Sports betting, meanwhile, also had to deal with an almost complete global shut-down of all sporting events from March. 

As the only vertical unaffected by lockdown measures or sporting cancellations, online casino posted year-on-year growth in revenue. 

However, the 5.0% year-on-year rise in revenue to DKK2.45bn was the lowest increase for online casino since the Danish igaming market opened for business in 2012. 

In terms of products, online slots contributed DKK1.82bn, or 74.4% of the vertical’s total. Roulette followed in a distant second on DKK231.9m (9.5%), with blackjack in third on DKK166.6m (6.8%).

All other verticals reported year-on-year declines.

Sports betting revenue finished the year 8.5% behind 2019, at DKK2.50bn. This, however included a record quarterly total for the three months to 31 December.

Sports betting revenue grew 16.6% to DKK724m in Q4, thanks to a later start to the European football season and a packed schedule. 

Over the year, there were only marginal changes in customers’ preferred channel for betting. DKK1.18bn – or 51.5% of revenue – was generated via mobile sportsbooks, with a further DKK771.4m (33.7%) coming from retail outlets. Just DKK338.5m (14.8%) came from betting sites online.

Compared to 2019, this suggests that while mobile’s market share has grown, it has been at the expense of desktop sites. Meanwhile, despite the Covid-19 lockdowns, there was actually marginal growth in retail betting’s share. 

The biggest declines were seen in the core land-based products: slots and brick-and-mortar casino. Slot revenue was down 29.0% at DKK986m, while casino revenue dropped 31.5% to DKK239m. 

Unlike sports betting, neither of these offerings could mitigate the November lockdown, which is unlikely to be lifted before 28 February, with an online offering. 

This meant that revenue from both slots and casino fell sequentially in Q4, having shown signs of recovering from Q2’s first national lockdown in their third quarter figures. 

The country’s national self-exclusion database Register Over Frivilligt Udelukkede Spillere (Rofus), had 25,176 individuals signed up as of October 2020, the most recent figures available. 

Of this number, 16,918 people had permanently blocked access to all gambling products. The remaining 8,258 people had temporarily blocked gambling, for between one and six months. 

The Sports Wagering Committee of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation’s board of directors approved WynnBet to operate its online sports betting app in the state, pending the fulfilment of statutory and regulatory requirements.

Tennessee will become the ninth state in which WynnBet has secured market access, in addition to New Jersey, Colorado and Michigan, where the app is already live, and Indiana, Nevada, Massachusetts, Ohio and Iowa, where the operator expects to launch this year.

The operator has also submitted an application for licensing in Virginia.

Sports betting in Tennessee launched in November last year, and the state became the first to allow mobile and online wagering without a land-based tethering requirement.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

The licence will enable Spribe to roll out its content with operators that also hold a permit to offer online gambling in Great Britain.

Established in 2018, Spribe is best known for its Turbo Games content, which combines social media with traditional gameplay.

Spribe also offers portfolio of skill games and table games including poker, bura, seka, backgammon and domino. Games are designed and developed at Spribe’s studios in Kyiv, Ukraine.

“Securing a UK licence is a milestone moment for Spribe, allowing us to deploy our thrilling, entertaining and unique content to operators in the market for the first time,” Spribe managing partner David Natroshvili said.

“Our games offer something different and have been designed to appeal to the lucrative Millennial player. They have proved to be a big hit in other markets, and we believe they will be just as popular with players in the UK.”

Certain measures within the Greater Sydney region of New South Wales will be relaxed from 12 February, with Star Sydney able to host more customers as a result.

Hospitality venues will be required to operate in line with a ‘one person per two square metres’ rule, which has been reduced from the previous rule of one person per four square metres.

As a result, Star Sydney said it will be able to host up to 10,000 patrons at any one time across its total casino area.

Customers will also no longer be required to wear masks in gaming rooms at the casino, with this rule having also been relaxed by the government.

Easing of restrictions mean the casino will now operate under similar conditions applicable at the property from 7-20 December.

The latest official government figures showed no new locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 were recoded in New South Wales in the 24-hour period to 8pm on 10 February, with just four acquired overseas.

Full-year revenue declined to $1.18bn (£853.5m/€974.1m). Its core Las Vegas locals business accounted for $1.09bn of the total, down 37.8%.

Management fees from properties it operates on Native American lands were down 10.6% at $81.4m, and corporate revenue made up the remaining $6.6m. 

Looking at revenue by source, casino was by far the main contributor, bringing in revenue of $764.3m. Food and beverage revenue was more than halved to $192.9m, as did revenue from its hotels, to $87.0m.

As well as the $81.4m in Native American management fees, Red Rock reported a further $56.3m in revenue from other sources. 

The operator’s chief financial officer Stephen Cootey said its properties had seen post-reopening trends continue throughout the second half, with a younger demographic increasingly visiting the casinos. Spend per visit increased, with more time spent on devices, and the core customer’s return had been “slow but steady”. 

Operating costs for the year declined 34.5% to $1.09bn, comprised predominantly of selling, general and administrative costs, casino expenses, as well as food and beverage spending. However across these main outgoings, spend was down year-on-year. 

Depreciation and amortisation expenses, however, rose marginally to $231.4m. This left an operating profit of $88.6m, down 52.4%, rising marginally to $89.7m after Red Rock’s share of joint venture profits was factored in. 

Interest expenses and other financial costs then fell to $150.1m, leaving a pre-tax loss of $60.5m. After taxes of $114.1m – compared to a $1.7m income tax benefit for 2019 – Red Rock’s net loss for the year came to $174.5m. 

After a $24.1m gain from the operator’s non-controlling stake in other interests, this was reduced slightly to $150.4m, though this was still far above the $3.4m loss reported for the prior year. 

Read the full story on iGB North America.