Zeal exceeds German lottery target in H1 2020

Online lottery brokerage business Zeal Network has reported “significantly increased” billings in the German market, with the firm generating H1 2020 billings of €313.8m (£283m).

Zeal attributed this rise to strong development in its EuroJackpot product and correspondingly high marketing investments, leading the firm to raise its guidance estimates for full year 2020.

Zeal’s total billings during the period hit €314.4m (£283.7m), almost double those reported in H1 2019, when total billings hit €179.4m (£161.9m) and due in part to the inclusion of Lotto24 within company figures.

H1 2019 figures for Lotto24 were not included within Zeal’s wider 2019 billing results as the business only became part of the Zeal Group on 14 May 2019.

As a result of increased marketing investments of €18.3m (£16.5m) during H1 2020, Zeal added 593,000 new customers in its German segment with preliminary acquisition costs per lead of €27.13 per new registered customer.

German segment revenue hit €39m (£35m) during the first half of 2020.

Due to the strong half-year performance, the company has revised its 2020 billing estimates up, revealing expected billings of between €590m-€610m (£550m).

Full year 2020 revenue estimates have also been revised up, with estimates now between €76m-€79m (£71.2m) and a gross margin slightly above 12% in the firm’s Germany segment.

Zeal has also confirmed a similar estimate rise to its adjusted EBITDA for 2020, which has been revised up to between €7m-€10m.

The operator has said it expects around 800,000 new registered customers in the German market during 2020, more than twice the number of new registered customers in 2019 (274,000).