The sense of a lull in proceedings on the earnings front has been exacerbated by the news this week that Ohio won’t be opening its shutters on sports betting until January 1, 2023. Combined with the delays in Maryland, it means that as far as new North American markets are concerned, we’ve had our lot for this year with New York and Ontario. It may only be June, but eyes almost inevitably now turn to the start of the next NFL season.

It might as well rain until September. Click below:

Ohio launch date

Pass the buckeye: The Ohio Control Casino Commission has confirmed that regulated sports betting will go live in the state on Jan. 1, 2023. That means Ohio will have taken just over a year from signing off on its betting bill to going live. 

• Most of the best-known brands are ready to launch, having already agreed market access deals and partnerships with casinos in the state. 

Time is on my side: Maryland is the other significant state that is expected to launch in Jan23, although that process has stood out for taking close to two years to come to fruition.  

Ryan Butler @ButlerBets

Notable Ohio sports organization - sportsbook partnerships: - Cleveland Browns: Bally's - Cleveland Cavaliers: Caesars - Columbus Crew: Tipico - PGA Tour's Memorial Tournament: betPARX

June 1st 2022

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theScore ceases US ops

Domestic focus: Penn National Gaming’s theScore Bet will call a halt to US operations on July 1 to focus on Ontario. Following the announcement, it has urged its US players to wager with Penn National betting stablemate Barstool Sportsbook. 

• Focus: The group said it will focus its US efforts on marketing Barstool and its Canadian efforts on marketing theScore Bet. 

• Operational resources will now be dedicated to launching its in-house sportsbook platform in the next 18 months as it migrates from Kambi. 

• The group notified customers of its decision this week; it is currently active in New Jersey, Iowa, Indiana and Colorado.  

Scout ouster

A scout is never taken by surprise: Andreas Ternström has been replaced with immediate effect at Scout Gaming by CFO Niklas Jönsson taking over in an acting capacity.

• Last weekend Scout announced it had reached an agreement with major shareholders for a bridging loan to “solve” its short-term liquidity problems.

• Recall Scout Gaming’s recent earnings showed revenue falling 20% YoY to SEK6.7m with EBITDA losses totaling SEK18.2m. The company soon after admitted it was looking at a bridging loan to be followed by a convertible loan later this summer.

Gambling.com analyst reaction 

Guidance awry: Gambling.com’s Q1 revenues of $19.6m were slightly ahead of Jefferies’ estimates of $18.4m but the delays in news OSB and igaming states in the US will weigh on the hopes for the year.

• Behind schedule: With Ohio now slated for a Jan23 launch and Maryland also behind schedule, Jefferies said FY22 revenue would likely come in at the lower end of guidance at ~$71.5m.

• No deals: Jefferies noted that M&A would not be a focus in the near term and it will prioritize the ongoing integration of the RotoWire and BonusFinder businesses it acquired over the past 12 months. 

• Hostage to fortune: Truist noted that Gambling.com’s management “continues to see limited risks from the pending UK regulatory review”.

Boyd share buybacks

Up the ante: The board at Boyd Gaming has authorized a $500m increase to its existing share buyback program. The company said its previous repurchase authorization had seen it snap up $361m of its own shares.

• Committed: Keith Smith, CEO, said the new program “further reinforces” the company’s commitment to “pursuing a balanced, robust capital return program”. Boyd intends to buy $100m worth of shares quarter with further “opportunistic purchases”.

• Deutsche Bank said Boyd has likely been active in Q2 and had likely exceeded the $100m in the quarter, this exhausting its current authorization.

• Free cash: The analysts believe the move should be viewed favorably and that displays the strength of the balance sheet. They estimate Boyd has ~$1bn of free cash flow available through to the end of 2023 for buybacks.

OSB and icasino monitors

The season of the glitch: Truist Securities said April icasino GGR was down 2% MoM at $415m.

• New Jersey recorded $137m of the total GGR, Michigan $132m and Pennsylvania was third with $113m in GGR.

• The team at Deutsche Bank has estimated April sports-betting GGR results (IL, VA, WY, AZ figures are yet to be published) will come to ~$470m, a drop of ~17% on March (excluding AZ), but a YoY rise of approximately 65% on account of new markets and New York mobile.

• The team at Truist said the sequential decline was seasonal.

Total betting handle for March came to $8.6bn (AZ unreported), with New York accounting for 19% of the figure. New Jersey represented 13% of the total and Illinois 11%. 

• DB said hold percentages within the recreational sportsbook model, are “largely, if not entirely” predicated on the mix of single event versus parlay/multi-outcome wagers. 

• DB added that it doesn’t believe “in-play wagering has or is likely to have a notable impact on aggregate hold percentages”. 

• Looking at the data from 26 states the team said two conclusions stand out: first, retail sports-betting holds have been higher than OSB and second, single vendor models have experienced higher holds.

Earnings in brief

Opap saw Q1 revenues rise 162% to €457.2m while EBITDA rose 175% to €168.8m as the retail business continued its rebound from the effect of Covid restrictions on trading last year. A further boost is likely in Q2 as ‘Green Pass’ restrictions were lifted on May 1.

• The breakdown: Lottery and instants was worth 42.3% of total revenues, betting (retail and online)  was at 33.4%, VLTs stood at 15.2% and online casino was worth 9.1%.

• CEO Jan Karas spoke of “continued online momentum”. Recall, Opap sold its ex-Greece interest in Kaizen Gaming (Betano) to Allwyn in April but retains ~85% stake in the Greece and Cyprus-facing Stoiximan.

Intralot said revenue was flat at €97.7m while EBITDA rose 4.9% to €26.1m. Lottery was worth 61.9% of total revenues, sports-betting 18.8%, VLTs 11.2%, IT services 7.7% and racing 0.5%.

• Rights issue: The company said it will soon launch a rights issue which CEO Sokratis Kokkalis said would “significantly strengthen our prospects to grasp the tremendous opportunities in the US and the global markets.”

Tabcorp analyst initiation 

Keeping tabs: Morgan Stanley has initiated coverage of Australian retail betting operator Tabcorp with a A$0.95 target and equal-weight rating. 

• MS said Tabcorp operates at a structural cost disadvantage due to higher taxes and product fees compared to online operators. 

• A lack of global scale will also impact profitability, added the team. The group has also lost market share due to players going online and fixed-odds sports betting gaining in popularity vs. pari-mutuel horse racing. 

• Morgan Stanley forecast 2022 EBITDA of $359m. 

Management reshuffle: Tabcorp also confirmed that David Attenborough will retire as CEO, with Adam Rytenskild replacing him. Steven Gregg is also stepping down as chairman to take up the same role at the now demerged The Lottery Corporation. Bruce Akhurst replaces Gregg as chairman of Tabcorp.

What we’re saying 

Episode 11 of the WE+M podcast has hit the airwaves. You can listen to it on Youtube, Spotify or Apple.   

Share Wagers.com Earnings+More

Sector watch - soccer

Blue is the colour: As the FT pointed out, while Todd Boehly is the name that grabbed the headlines in the recent £4.25bn takeover of EPL club Chelsea, it was private equity giant Clearlake Capital that provided the cash to pay off previous owner Roman Abramovich. 

• Co-founded in 2006 by billionaires José Feliciano and Behdad Eghbali, Clearlake manages more than $75bn in assets of which $25bn was taken in over the past year. 

• The firm contributed 60% of the capital to find the deal and holds the ownership rights.

• The FT says Clearlake will be an “active co-owner” and will seek to expand Chelsea’s reach “globally”.

We are the champions: Yesterday, AC Milan became the latest big-name European club to change hands as the hedge fund and activist investor Elliot Advisors announced an agreement with Redbird Capital, another PE firm, to sell the recently crowned Serie A champions.

• The deal values the club at $1.2bn and will be completed in September.

• Redbird says it hopes to “continue Milan's journey back to the summit of world football”. 

Devils in the detail: The deals focus attention on the value of owning soccer clubs. A recent note on Manchester United from Deutsche Bank pointed out that a read-across from the deal for Chelsea suggested the club’s shares - listed in New York - were undervalued.

• Wilderness: The analysts also suggested that “one season in the Europa League would only have a “minor impact on the overall business” and that they expect the team to return to the Champions League next season (lol).

• Simply red: The added that Man U is “one of the most recognizable sports franchises in the world, which allows the team to incrementally monetize its position through broadcast rights, sponsorship, merchandise, and ticketing”.

• Flying high: Meanwhile, EPL viewing continues to increase globally and provides a “tailwind for broadcast rights”.

Newslines

MaximBet has announced Nicki Minaj as an “investor, adviser and global ambassador”. The Drake and Kanye-adjacent star will assist MaximBet with merchandise, parties, partnerships, and fan experiences. 

At the off: Caesars Entertainment and NYRA Bets have launched the Caesars Racebook app in Florida and Ohio. The pair plan more state launches later this year.

Accel has completed its previously-announced acquisition of Century Gaming for $164.2m in cash and stock. Century runs more than 8,300 gaming terminals and over 900 licensed locations across Montana and Nevada, including bars, taverns, truck stops and convenience store groups. 

IGT has signed a 10-year contract extension with the Kansas Lottery which will run through to Dec32 to provide an electronic gaming system.

Elys Game Technology has partnered with District Hospitality to operate retail sports-betting at a restaurant, bar and sportsbook to be named BetDupont in Dupont Circle in Washington, DC.

Bragg Gaming has completed its previously announced acquisition of Spin Games in a $30m cash-and-stock deal. It hopes to start rolling out its proprietary games in Connecticut, Michigan and New Jersey in Q3 with Pennsylvania to follow.

Formula One’s parent Liberty Media has snapped up 39 acres of land east of the Las Vegas Strip for $240m. Recall, F1 will hold races in Las Vegas in 2023 through to 2025.

Pointsbet has appointed Jerry Bowskill as CTO. He was previously CTO at Capital International and has held positions at Playtech, The Stars Group and Scientific Games. He replaces Manjit Gombra Singh, who is now a non-executive director with PointsBet. The group has also appointed Andrew Catterall as its new Australia CEO. 

What we’re listening to

Wagers Trending: Ryan Butler and Steve Ruddock discuss Ohio, theScore and Nicki Minaj on Twitter spaces.

On social 

Mile-high club?  

Adam Seaborn @AHBSeaborn

The RBC Canadian Open will feature a "Skyline Seats" section sponsored by @theScoreBet Fans will be hanging 100feet above the 1st and 18th holes Seriously.

June 2nd 2022

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Calendar

• June 8-9: WE+M@Betting on Sports Europe

Contact us

• Scott Longley scott@clearconcisemedia.com

• Jake Pollard jake@openmediaservices.com