Betsson overcomes blip as Q3 revenues climb 9%

Betsson has posted a 9% rise in Q3 revenues, an increase CEO Ulrik Bengtsson (pictured) says proves the operator is back on track following a “challenging” previous quarter.

Group revenue increased from SEK972.9m (£98m) in Q3 2015 to SEK1bn for the three months ended 30 September 2016, driven by 11% growth in casino revenue and a 9% rise from sports betting.

Casino and sportsbook accounted for 69% and 28% of total revenue respectively, while both verticals benefited from a 55% year-on-year increase in revenues from its mobile channel.

Revenues of SEK504.2m (£46.5m) from handheld devices represented 47% of group revenue.

And although operating income was down 4.7% to SEK272.9m (£25.2m) compared to the same period last year, this was a marked improvement on the 26% year-on-year fall to SEK158.3m (£14.6m) during Q2 2016.

Chief exec Bengtsson said today’s figures demonstrated the challenges Betsson faced during Q2 were the result of short-term issues.

“The strong performance in the third quarter shows that the challenges we had in the second quarter was of a temporary nature.

“The investments in Betsson’s casino and sportsbook products has driven the revenue growth during the quarter where for example the Nordic region grew by 22%.

“Investments in these products will continue in the coming quarters.”

During Q3, Betsson launched a new scalable front-end technology platform (OBG) and expanded its presence in the Baltics with the acquisition of sportsbook operator TonyBet’s Lithuanian business for up to €6m (£5.1m).

Earlier this week the operator also unveiled a refresh to its flagship betsson.com brand, backed by a new TV ad campaign and creative concept centred around a new ‘Anytime’s Playtime’ tagline.

The brand refresh is the work of creative agency Leo Burnett, which was appointed as the lead global creative agency for Betsson.com earlier this year.

Betsson AB’s share price was up 10.01% to SEK93.95 at the time of writing.