• United we stand: Name change reflects French giant’s expanded horizons.

• In +More: Flutter’s Jackson talks prediction markets.

• Earnings TL;DR: Entain plus Bally’s earnings.

• Sector watch looks at the recent esports betting product launches.

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La grande ambition

A new career in a new town: Talking about a new identity and a new chapter in the company’s history, Stéphane Pallez, CEO at the newly rechristened FDJ United, said that with the addition of the €2.8bn Kindred acquisition, the previously France-focused lottery and betting operator now wanted to be a “European champion” in gaming.

• If the €2.8bn Kindred had been incorporated for the whole year, pro forma revenues would have come in at €3.79bn.

• On the same terms, pro forma adj. EBITDA would have been just shy of €1bn at €964m.

Trans Europe express: Having also completed the buyout of Premier Lotteries Ireland in late 2023, FDJ United now operates in 13 European jurisdictions, with the international business worth 26% of pro forma revenues and the home market of France contributing the lion’s share of 74%.

• Pallez said the new “perimeter” for the business offered “globally strong development opportunities.”

• With the wider footprint comes increased regulatory complexity. FDJ noted in its presentation the "regulatory headwinds” in the Netherlands and the UK.

A tough crowd: Investors were not quite so impressed with the high-flown language and sent the share price crashing over 11% on the day, leaving the company valued at €6.28bn.

The cost of not doing business: The cost to FDJ of choosing to retain only the regulated elements of Kindred’s previous business is stark.

• The ‘clean’ Kindred business generated revenues of €918m and adj. EBITDA of €223m in 2024.

• By way of contrast, in February 2023, Kindred reported 2023 revenues of £1.21bn (€1.44bn), suggesting Kindred has shed well over half-a-billion of revenues from grayer markets.

• Underlying EBITDA in 2023 stood at £205m (€244m), suggesting the exits have cost it at least €20m.

Getting your in-house in order: Pallez said the rollout of Kindred’s own in-house sports-betting platform was now progressing, with plans at some point to implement the platform with the FDJ business. The rollout is planned to take place this year and next.

• Recall, Kindred spoke previously about the platform being deployed by the end of 2023.

• Note, the contract with current supplier Kambi is set to come to an end in 2026.

• CFO Pascal Chaffard noted FDJ would “stop paying double” for backend provision in 2027, with the company benefitting from €50m of cost synergies up to that date.

Org chart: Alongside the new name, the company has reorganized the business into four business units – French lottery and retail sports, online, international lottery and payments – with four new division heads, including ex-Kindred CEO Nils Andén who heads up online.

E+M PRO subscribers can read yesterday’s Earnings Extra here.

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+More

• The 50 49 state opportunity: Talking during a Morgan Stanley-hosted fireside chat, Flutter Entertainment CEO Peter Jackson reiterated his comments from the company’s earnings call (paywall) to suggest that prediction market offerings lacked the “richness” of full complement OSB offerings. But he admitted it could be useful as part of a “prime-the-pump strategy” ahead of any future regulation in non-OSB states. See ’In Compliance+More’ below.

• If I have a fault, it is that I’m too self-critical of myself: On the same call, Jackson said DraftKings was Flutter’s “# 1 enemy”. “They are the people we want to beat everyday,” he added, arguing that Flutter wants to be “obsessed with what our customers want and be absolutely ruthless about challenging our own decision-making process.”

• A rethink: The UK’s competition authorities are to reopen the case on Spreadex’s attempted buyout of rival Sporting Index. The CMA previously recommended Spreadex sell the business it bought on the basis it restricted competition in the spread-betting market. Spreadex welcomed the move, having appealed the previous ruling.

• Adventure venture: There is a new name in the gaming affiliate space after Sweden-based online gaming provider Adventure Box Technology snapped up affiliate provider Project Quantum for €15m. The acquisition is expected to close on March 31, at which point Adventure Box will pay €7m in cash and €3m in shares, with a further €2.5m in cash and shares due year one and two after closing.

• Off grid: The estimated net economic impact of the F1 race that took place for the second year in Las Vegas in November was down to $934m from $1.5bn in 2023, according to an after-event report from Applied Analysis. The Las Vegas Review-Journal said the amount includes overall visitors spending, investments made by F1 into infrastructure and event operations throughout the year.

• Earnings in brief: The Grand Lisboa Macau operator SJM enjoyed a 34% uplift in revenues to HK$26.8bn ($3.2bn) in 2024 while adj. EBITDA was up more than 100% to HK$3.76bn. The company said it achieved a 13% market share over the year.

• What we’re reading: Matt Levine from Bloomberg on Texas lottery arbitrage. “The way to buy every ticket is to get the lottery commission to send a bunch of lottery terminals to your office, and then use automated methods to rapidly print every possible ticket from those machines. Will the lottery commission let you do that? Well, probably not, but can’t hurt to ask.”

In Compliance+More

• Stop that! Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said he was “disappointed” but the firm had met every federal obligation and would “keep paving the way for regulated prediction markets to thrive in the US” after the operator received a cease-and-desist letter from the Nevada Gaming Control Board. NGCB chair Kirk Hendrick warned that any unlicensed attempt to offer sports betting in Nevada would not be tolerated. From yesterday’s C+M.

• A better offer: Claims that affordability checks are driving punters to black market bookmakers appear to have been boosted by the publication of a survey of horseracing bettors by the Racing Post. The survey of nearly 10,000 of the racing trade paper’s readers found the percentage of respondents that had used a black market bookmaker had increased from 3.6% to 4.9% over the last two years. From Tuesday’s C+M.

+More careers

• The big move: Las Vegas Sands has announced that CEO Rob Goldstein is to leave the post in March next year to become a senior advisor. He will be succeeded by current COO Patrick Dumont, who is also majority shareholder Miriam Adelson’s son-in-law.

• GeoComply has appointed Kip Levin as its new CEO, with co-founder Anna Sainsbury transitioning to the role of executive chairman and fellow co-founder David Briggs shifting his focus to product and innovation. Levin previously held various senior leadership roles at Flutter Entertainment, including a period as CEO of its US business and president of FanDuel.

• German-facing lottery reseller Zeal has appointed Andrea Behrendt to CFO. Behrendt has been with Zeal since 2012 and is currently VP of group controlling & portfolio management. She will replace current CFO Sebastian Bielski, who is leaving the company to pursue outside opportunities.

• Chief Operations Officer/Chief Executive Officer – Dubai

• Chief Financial Officer – Dubai

• Head of CRM Planning Operations – San José

Earnings TL;DR

Entain

The brutalist: Taking the reins once more after the brief interlude of the now departed Gavin Isaacs, interim CEO Stella David admitted she hadn’t expected to be in charge once more – “neither you or I expected me to be doing this, but anyway, here I am” – but added that since she last hosted the annual call in March last year, the company had faced its demons.

• “We had to face the brutal truths,” she added. “We had to roll up our sleeves and we had to focus on delivering operationally.”

• Revenue for the year was up 7% YoY to £5.09bn while underlying EBITDA was up 8% to £1.09bn, with the star performer being the Entain CEE unit.

• Chuff chuff: Reiterating her message on the progress already being made, David said the “Entain train has left the station.”

• “It’s heading in the right direction and it is building momentum.”

• Holding pattern: On the Entain CEE in Poland and Croatia, CFO Rob Wood noted that, given the #1 positioning of STS and Supersport in each respective market, the businesses were “there to be shot at and that holding share in those two markets “would be a good result for us.”

• In situ: On the search for a replacement CEO, David said she would be “here as long as it takes.”

• For more, see yesterday’s Earnings Extra edition. E+M PRO subscribers only.

• Note: An Earnings Extra covering Full House Resorts will be sent later today, Friday.

Bally’s no show

Hanging on the telephone: Bally’s left the analysts hanging on Thursday, abruptly cancelling its Q4 earnings call with an hour’s notice after announcing figures that showed limited bright spots against an otherwise poor backdrop.

• North American interactive and UK online were the only segments on the up, the first rising 24% to $41.5m while the UK was up 11% to an unspecified amount.

• However, the international interactive business as a whole saw revenues fall 9% to $214m while the B&M casino unit saw revenue fall 5% to $324m.

• Total Q4 revenue fell 5% YoY to $580m while FY24 revenues were static at $2.45bn.

Moving parts: The company recently completed the take-private deal with major shareholder Standard General that saw it merged with Queen Casino and Entertainment. Robeson Reeves, CEO, said in the earnings release that 2024 was a “transformational and transitional year.”

• Over the period, the company has broken ground on its permanent Chicago casino facility, completed the demolition of the Tropicana on the Las Vegas Strip.

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Connections

Fanatics Betting & Gaming has chosen performance marketing provider Intellics to power its efforts in that area. Delasport is integrating its Plug & Play iFrame sportsbook solution into Campéon Gaming’s latest brand. Oddsworks online casino games are now available on Caesars’ platforms in New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Games Global’s OnAir Entertainment has expanded its provision of bespoke Live Casino content to LeoVegas.

Sector watch – esports

Let’s get ready to Rimble: Esports betting tech provider Rimble has launched an esports-specific BetBuilder, available for Counter-Strike, League of Legends, Valorant, and Dota 2. The launch follows Rimble’s SGP launch in 2024.

Abios, amigo: Abios, part of the Kambi Group, launched a similar product last year. The esports-focused arm of Kambi recently penned an expanded deal with Kindred, which will see brands such as Unibet take the full package, including the ‘always-on’ content, data widgets and more.

• Q4 data from Abios showed Dota 2’s betting handle on the decline, with Counter-Strike and League of Legends remaining the most popular betting properties.

• Riot Games’ FPS title Valorant continues to be the ‘title to watch’ as its esports scene continues to grow.

Dos cervezas, por favor: Sports-betting operator EstrelaBet will feature on the front of Brazilian esports organisation Vivo Keyd Stars’ jerseys after penning a “significant” partnership. Vivo Keyd Stars has teams competing in League of Legends, Honor of Kings and Rainbow Six Siege.

• EstrelaBet will be the first betting sponsor to feature on the jersey of a team competing in a Riot Games-endorsed league after the company relaxed its rules on betting sponsors.

• The Brazilian Secretariat of Prizes and Bets recently granted EstrelaBet its full Brazilian licence.

Slowly does it: Considering esports is inherently geared towards a ‘digital-first’ audience, the betting product continues to lag behind traditional sports in terms of product innovation and variety. Top-tier operators continue to be cautious around esports, tucking away a typical sportsbook product without any real emphasis.

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