19 Sep: Germany and Netherlands dog 888

888 Q3 update, Bet-at-home profit warning, New Jersey hits £1bn +More

Oct 19

Good morning. Top of the shop today is 888 with its third-quarter trading figures which were a tad disappointing. For all the messiness of the YoY sports calendar comparative, a 15% decline is still a hefty enough pullback. Meanwhile, gaming continues to show the effects of Germany and the newly-disclosed impact of the Netherlands exit. In M&A, meanwhile, it’s deadline day and there is still no news on the DraftKings bid for Entain. In a prediction that could go very wrong, very quickly, WE+M is hearing that DraftKings and MGM might be given more time by the London Stock Exchange to work on the details of a bid.

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888 trading update

The top line

Revenues rose 7% (+3% on constant currency) YoY to $229.9m; gaming revenues were up 11% to $193.5m, sports betting was down 15% to $26.8m. B2B revenues were up 4% to $9.6m.
YTD revenues were up 28% to $758.3m, with B2C gaming up 27% to $622.3m and B2C betting up 41% to $107.1m. Daily active players were up 6% on average.
The group ceased trading in the Netherlands, which will cost c$10m in EBITDA in FY22.

Drive-by: Germany and the Netherlands dominated the Q&A session. CFO Yariv Dafna said 888 expects to launch in the Netherlands in 2022 and would have to once again “ramp up” its presence in the market. He added that the impact on FY22 EBITDA was “almost a one-time” hit as the company doesn't expect any impact on FY23 EBITDA.

Mein Walkman ist kaputt: CEO Itai Pazner said 888’s recently-launched German sportsbook was almost

“like a relaunch of a new product” with Germany seen as “a very attractive market going forward, because it’s a large scale, regulated sports betting-led market that also provides gaming”. However, the company said nothing further about the continuing impact on its gaming revenues in the country due to the new regulatory regime that launched in the summer.

Regulatory headwinds: 888 has previously said that the new Dutch and German regimes would hit group EBITDA by $70-$1000m and Dafna said he expected the impact to be “at the upper end” of that range. By way of mitigation, the group will ramp up marketing efforts to drive volumes in other markets to make up for the shortfall in Holland and Germany.

Transformers: The acquisition of William Hill’s non-US businesses was “transformational” for 888 as it would enable it to be a “top 3 operator across key regulated markets,” said Pazner. With the transaction expected to close in early 2022, he added that it was “business as usual” and the group would “focus on integration plans” set to start next year.

Bet-at-home profit warning

The top line

Announcing the hit from its exit from the major territory of Austria, Bet-at-home said it would now endure an EBITDA loss of between €10-14m for FY21. Revenue is now expected at between €93m-98m.
This compares with summer forecasts of positive FY21 EBITDA of €8-10m and FY21 revenues of €100m-110m.
Legal costs related to Austrian customer lawsuits will result in a one-off expense of €24.6m. As of the end of June, Bet-at-home had cash assets of €41.8m as of 30 June.
The Q321 trading statement has now been delayed.

Requiem: Bet-at-home’s continuing troubles in Austria - it says it’s legal, the authorities have other ideas - have finally come home to roost after the company announced late yesterday it was exiting the country. Due a recent decision by the Austrian supreme court, the company said yesterday it was “now unclear” whether Bet-at-home will be able to continue with its legal arguments “in the foreseeable future”. It has therefore decided to “temporarily” discontinue operations “in a timely manner”.

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New Jersey September

Billion-dollar baby: While there are justifiable reasons for suggesting the focus on handle is somewhat misleading - how much of that total is bonuses is pertinent here - there can be no doubt that headline figures mean something and hence the $1.011bn figure for September is still significant. It is, of course, the first state to break the billion-dollar barrier but it will certainly not be the last. Such is the service New Jersey has done on behalf of the online sports-betting and igaming sector; since forcing the pace with its PASPA challenge, the state’s punters have delivered milestone after milestone and this is but one more to add to the trophy cabinet.

The real deal: While the headlines are all about the sports-betting, where GGR rose to 82.7% YoY and 58.8% MoM to $82.4m and the second biggest total, it is NJ igaming that catches the eye. The $122.6m figure was up 39.9% YoY and 8.3% MoM. In the YTD, igaming GGR has hit $988.7m while sports is at $557.8m.

Share and share alike: On the combined numbers, Flutter retained top spot with 28% followed by BetMGM (25%), DraftKings (17%) and Caesars (11%). In sports alone, Flutter led the way with 48% followed by BetMGM (16%), DraftKings (15%) and Caesars (9%). Taken together with last week’s data from Michigan, analysts at Jefferies said the figures flagged “strong momentum in both established and new markets as the new NFL season kicks off”.

Newslines

Horn of plenty: Entain has completed its acquisition of the assets of esports betting and skill-based wagering Unikrn. The group hopes to launch new esports products for customers in 2022.

Retail trio: DraftKings and the New Hampshire Lottery have opened a third retail sportsbook in the state at the Filotimo Casino & Restaurant in Dover, NH. The two groups already run the Manchester-based Filotimo Casino & Restaurant and DraftKings sportsbooks at the Brook resort in Seabrook. DraftKings also announced a “strategic blockchain agreement” with Polygon in relation to the Marketplace NFPs product.

Forza Italia: NeoGames has gone live in Italy with partner Lottomatica with its range of online casino products. The launch is part of a multi-year agreement that will see NeoGames supply its online casino gaming content to Lottomatica.

Bragging rights: Bragg Gaming has integrated and launched its casino content platform Oryx Gaming with Holland Casino. To enable the launch it completed the integration with Playtech’s Marketplace Platform, Holland Casino’s igaming technology platform.