Betsson records best-ever 12 months as tech development and World Cup pay dividends

Betsson recorded its “best year ever” as the operator underlined its strong Q4 performance and continued geographic expansion as core reasons for its success.

The Swedish operator posted an 18% year-on-year (YoY) jump in full-year 2022 revenue to €777.2m (£684.6m), up from the €657.7m recorded in 2021.

The record figure was driven by a hugely impressive Q4, with key metrics in the reporting period undoubtably bolstered by the winter World Cup in November and December.

In fact, Q4 revenue leapt by 40% YoY, or an organic increase of 48%, from €157.5m to €220.6m.

Breaking this revenue down by vertical, casino revenue increased by 27% while sportsbook revenue soared by 76%, with an accompanying margin of 7.3%.

Betsson noted its sportsbook offering had been significantly improved by B2B platform KickerTech, of which it acquired 80% of in October.

The operator said KickerTech had allowed the firm to add “new customers, further capabilities in building advanced odds models, trading technology and sportsbook features”.

Betsson also said the World Cup was the largest sports event ever for the firm and, alongside driving sportsbook performance, showed signs of cross-sell in terms of casino turnover growth.

Casino continues to dominate Betsson’s revenue share (66%), but Q4 represented an all-time high in sportsbook revenue and turnover for the firm.

Exploring Betsson’s operations via geographical spread, Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA) and Latam continue to be the shining lights.

Latam revenue amounted to €52.3m, a YoY rise of 101.6% while CEECA returned a 52.8% increase on revenue to €85.4m.

Elsewhere, Western Europe returned a somewhat surprising 26.3% increase in revenue to €25.8m, driven primarily by the group’s strong performance in Italy.

Betsson did note that it continues to await licence approval in the Netherlands and is hampered by market restrictions in Germany, despite renewing its Rizk licence in the much-maligned market last year.

The Nordics returned €53.1m in revenue during Q4, a modest uptick of 2.4%, which Betsson said was due to growth in its casino product offering in the region.

Alongside strong growth in Q4 revenue, the company also posted a 68% jump in EBITDA to €51.1m with a corresponding margin of 23.2%, up from 19.3%. Operating income (EBIT) soared by 90% to €40m.

Active customer numbers in the quarter also increased, driven by the World Cup, to 1,424,794 compared to 1,161,683 in Q4 2021. Total customer deposits rose by 39.7% to €1.1bn.

Returning to the group’s full-year 2022 performance, EBITDA increased by 12% to €172.4m with a margin of 22.2%, a slight decrease on full-year 2021’s EBITDA margin of 23.4%.

EBIT jumped 11% YoY to €131.2m as the business ended 2022 with an operating cash flow of €178.7m.

Speaking on the group’s performance, Betsson AB CEO Pontus Lindwall championed the development of Betsson’s technology which ultimately allowed the firm to capitalise on the unique winter World Cup.

Lindwall said: “Further development of Betsson’s tech platform is constantly taking place and the investments of the past years have paid off. Within product and tech, the focus was also on the World Cup during the quarter.

“All targets were met regarding scalability, quality and stability, at times in exceptional circumstances with very high player activity.

“As an example, during the final customers placed three times as many bets as during the Champions League final, which is otherwise often the busiest event for the sportsbook during the entire year.

“Some new functionality was also added, such as boosted odds for live betting, which was frequently used during the tournament,” he added.

The CEO also gave some thoughts on his hopes for 2023, with the operator already seeing average daily revenue in Q1 2023 up 33.9% compared to Q1 2022.

Lindwall continued: “Finally, I would also like to take the opportunity to thank our employees for all the hard work put in during the past year.

“Together we will continue to deliver the best customer experience in the gaming industry and create long-term value for our shareholders.

“Even if the macro-economic and geopolitical situation in the world remains uncertain, we remain optimistic about 2023 thanks to our geographical diversification, focus on profitable growth, strong balance sheet and our sustainable gaming solutions,” he concluded.