Publishing its third quarter financial results, AGS has revealed that these products increased from $3.10m in the third quarter of 2021 to $4.03m in Q3 2022.

In addition, the firm also experienced a 16.3 per cent growth in its electronic game machines, currently standing at $71.62m this year compared to $61.6m during the same period the year prior. 

Overall, including the 1.2 per cent increase from the company’s interactive division, the revenue growth rate for AGS stood at 16.3 per cent year-on-year to $78.25m (2021: $67.27m).

AGS, President and Chief Executive Officer, David Lopez, said: “Our third quarter financial results further reflect the people, product and process-driven operating momentum building within our business. 

“Given the encouraging initial customer response to the broader and more diverse new product lineup we recently unveiled at the Global Gaming Expo, I am even more excited about what lies ahead for our company and its key stakeholders.”

Alongside the firm’s total revenue, AGS reported that its income from operations jumped 28.8 per cent to $9.031m in Q3 2022 compared to $7.011m in the same period in 2021. 

Delving into adjusted EBITDA, table products again experienced a big spike, witnessing 57.3 per cent growth to $2.561m this year when compared to the third quarter of 2021, which stood at $1.628m. 

Money-wise, AGS’s EGM totalled the largest amount in this financial metric, coming it at approximately $31m, a 6.3 per cent increase the year prior. 

Despite its interactive division experiencing a loss of 28.7 per cent – which saw a $231,000 loss compared to 2021, totalling £575,000 in the third quarter this year – the overall adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter stood at $34.476m, an eight per cent increase from last year. 

On an international scale, the third’s EGM recurring revenue has witnessed its ninth consecutive quarter increase, reporting a 16 per cent growth year-on-year, citing the “consistent macroeconomic recovery” happening in Mexico. 

Kimo Akiona, AGS Chief Financial Officer, added: “I am extremely pleased with the balance sheet deleveraging progress we have made year-to-date, as we ended the third quarter with net leverage at x4. 

“Supported by the stable operating trends we continue to observe within the business, I remain confident in our ability to deliver on our year-end net leverage target of less than 4.0 times and look forward to further reducing leverage in the years ahead.”

Looking into EGM equipment sales, the firm revealed it sold 1,014 units in Q3, 2022, representing an increase of 50 per cent compared to the 663 units sold in 2021, the company’s highest level achieved since Q4, 2019. 

Average sales price was $19,146 versus $18,970 in Q3, 2021, topping $19,000 for the fourth consecutive quarter. Moreover, the firm sold units in 26 US states, four Canadian provinces throughout the third quarter. 

As of September 30, 2022, the company had an available cash balance of $33.4m and $40m of availability under its undrawn revolving credit facility, resulting in total available liquidity of $73.4m.

The total principal amount of debt outstanding, as of the report publishing, was $572.8m compared to $615.7m at December 31, 2021.

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Publishing its Q3 results, the group revealed that its gaming vertical grew to $112.5m when compared to the same period the year prior, which stood at $95.8m, citing a growth in the number of gaming machines sold as a primary driver at 57 per cent, as well as gaming operation revenues, including digital.

Revenues for the three-month period ended September 30, 2022 increased 21 per cent to $204.3m compared to $168.3m in the third quarter of 2021. Recurring revenues increased nine per cent driven by growth in both the games and fintech segments to $143.6m from $131.2m in the prior-year period.  

Revenues from non-recurring sales increased 64 per cent to $60.7m compared with $37.1m in the prior-year period.

Randy Taylor, Everi’s CEO, said: “The third quarter year-over-year increases in revenues, net income and adjusted EBITDA and our consistent improvement in our financial results throughout 2022 reflect the operating momentum across each of our businesses due to the continued broad-based demand for our products. 

“Our strong financial results this year have been driven by steady growth in our recurring revenue streams together with a record level of revenues from gaming machine and fintech hardware sales. Our focus on top-line growth and operational excellence is delivering consistent year-over-year earnings growth and strong free cash flow generation.”

Returning to the gaming sector, Everi’s operating income decreased from Q3 2021 by $4.6m, which the firm stated reflects higher revenue from gaming machine sales, offset by lower margins on machine sales due to increased supply chain costs as well as higher operating expenses.

Adjusted EBITDA was $57.2m compared to $57.7m in the third quarter of 2021. Revenues from the recent acquisition of Intuicode Gaming were $2.3m in the 2022 third quarter.

Furthermore, gaming operations revenues for Everi increased five per cent to $75m compared to $71.6m in 2021. 

Within its operations, Everi noted that its installed base increased eight per cent, 1,314 units, year-on-year. On a quarterly basis, the firm experienced an increase by 271 units to 17,735 units altogether, as of September 30, 2022. 

In addition, the premium portion of the installed base increased by 19 per cent, 1,374 units, year-on-year. This added 370 units on a quarterly sequential basis to 8,725 units. Everi stated that this growth was driven, in part, by its continued placements of Cashnado and Smokin’ Hot Stuff Fire and Ice units.

Revenues from digital gaming rose 34 per cent to $5.1m in the third quarter of 2022 compared to $3.8m in Q3 2021. In its report, Everi reported that the increase in digital revenues reflects an expansion in the number of gaming operator sites featuring Everi’s games along with growth in the library of available slot content.

Taylor continued: “We received a tremendous positive customer response to the launch of our newest products displayed at the Global Gaming Expo in early October, quite possibly our best-ever show. 

“This favourable feedback combined with the growth prospects related to our recent acquisitions, fortifies our confidence for continued operating momentum and strong cash flow in 2023. 

“Our capital allocation priorities remain directed toward extending the success we have achieved through investments in high-return internal product development to grow our core businesses and prudent acquisitions that extend our product and service capabilities to expand our addressable markets, as well as continuing to return capital to our shareholders.”

Overall in the third quarter, Everi reported its operating income was $54.6m in comparison to the year-prior, which stood at $55.1m, citing lower operating margins compared to 2021 as a reflection of a change in revenue mix.  

Net income witnessed a dramatic spike, growing by 339 per cent to $29.4m, equivalent to $0.30 per diluted share, compared to $6.7m ($0.07 per diluted share) in Q3 2022.

The provision for income taxes increased $10.6m in the 2022 third quarter. Everi claimed that this could be attributed to the reversal of the full valuation allowance on certain deferred tax assets that occurred in Q4, 2021.  

It was added that 2021’s third quarter included a pre-tax charge of $34.4m for the loss on extinguishment of debt related to the Everi’s debt refinancing transactions. 

Adjusted EBITDA increased seven per cent to an all-time quarterly record $96.6m. Up from $90.6m in Q3 2021.  

On the back of its third quarter performance, and looking into the near future, Everi tightened its full year 2022 guidance for net income to $112 from $117m, with its adjusted EBITDA also cut by $5m to $371m from $376m. 

Taylor concluded: “With our confidence in our long-term growth prospects and a belief that the current valuation of our company does not fully reflect our underlying strength and growth opportunities, we have been returning capital to shareholders through opportunistic repurchases of our shares as part of our focus on creating additional long-term shareholder value.”

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Publishing its interim report for January to September 2022, revenue for live casino in Q3 jumped to €310.4m from €214.5m in the same period last year. 

Marking 45 per cent year-on-year growth for live casino products, this continued the vertical’s steady growth each quarter since the third quarter in 2021. 

According to Evolution, the positive revenue development within live casino mainly derives from increased commission income from existing customers and, to a certain extent, from new customers. Demand for online casino games continues to grow, partly as a result of our continuous launch of “successful new games and variations on traditional games”.

Martin Carlesund, CEO at Evolution, noted: “Live casino reported a continued rapid growth of 45 per cent in the quarter. We continue to see very strong global demand for our new as well as existing products and we are increasing market shares and our distance to competitors The roll-out of the full product suite to all regulated markets continues.”

Alongside its live casino growth, its RNG-games also experienced a revenue increase from the year prior as it totalled €68.1m (2021: €61.5m), also increasing from the previous quarter where it stood at €65.5m. 

Commenting on its RNG performance, Carlesund stated: “Total RNG revenue increased by 11 per cent compared to last year, including the acquired Nolimit City business, compared to pro-forma figures growth year-on-year is two per cent. This is not yet satisfactory. We have delivered too few slot games during the past period, however we remain fully committed to the target of double-digit growth.”

On Evolution’s target for double-digit growth, the firm’s CEO stated that the recently completed acquisition of Nolimit City during the quarter, which is fully consolidated in Q3, will be excluded but emphasised operations have “started off strong”. 

Looking into Evolution’s Q3 figures, the company’s operating revenue increased by 37.1 per cent to €378.5m (2021: €276m) with the firm’s EBITDA also experiencing a strong rise by 35.3 per cent to €261m (2021: €192.9m), corresponding to a margin of 69 per cent. 

Profit for the third quarter also witnessed a healthy rise, totalling €221.3m compared to €157.4m during the same period last year. In addition, earnings per share amounted to €1.04 (2021: €0.73).

Looking at Evolution’s nine-month period in 2022, from January to September, the firm’s operating revenues also experienced a healthy increase from the year prior, jumping up 36.5 per cent to €1,049.3bn (2021: €768.5m). 

Another similar trend from its third quarter performance witnessed Evolution’s EBITDA during the nine-month period also increase by 38.1 per cent to €728.9m (2021: €527.7m). 

The firm also reported a profit during the period to €619.9m (2021: €433.9m), with earnings per share amounted to €2.91 (2021: €2.03). 

Delving into Evolution’s revenue performance per geographical region, the company witnessed a total operating revenue of €378.5m, up from the 2021 period that stood at €276m. 

One of its biggest growths was in the Asia continent, which experienced revenues of €127.8m (2021: €76.7m). Another big grower was North America, a market that continues to gather the attention of operators and suppliers in the igaming sector, jumping from €31.9m in the same period in 2021 to €50.1m in 2022. 

On its geographical performance, Carlesund concluded: “In North America, we continued to expand studio capacity, and the European markets reported stronger growth in the quarter than earlier this year. 

“We continue to experience an increasing end user preference for our products in Asia, driving a continuous strong growth. The Other region which includes Latin America and Africa shows very good growth once again and we continue to see good potential in both markets over time.

“Online casino continues to grow world-wide and the growth path in the long term perspective is very strong. With that said, increased interest rates, increased inflation, signs of a weakening economy in some markets as well as an uncertain geopolitical situation are all factors that also affect our business. 

“It is difficult to separate the effect of these circumstances to conclude what the implications may have been in the quarter or what they will be in the next. We certainly see higher cost in supplies, electricity, transport and also upward pressures on salaries. 

“Our guidance at the beginning of this year was an EBITDA-margin in the 69-71 per cent

range for the full year. So far for the nine-month period the margin is at 69.5 per cent. I am satisfied with our delivery under the current circumstances. We make no change to our previously guided range of EBITDA margin of 69-71 per cent for the full year.”

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Publishing its unaudited Interim report: January – September 2022, Kindred noted that its total revenue stands at £277.8m with its GWR witnessing a nine per cent decline to £271.9m (2021: £298.4m).

However, when Kindred excluded the Netherlands operations from its account, the company’s gross winnings revenues actually witnessed an increase by eight per cent during the third quarter.

Furthermore, Q3 saw the firm’s underlying EBITDA take a sharp nose dive as it decreased by 52 per cent from the previous year, standing at £40.3m compared to £84.8m. 

Looking into Kindred’s operations commencing from January to September this year, its total revenue came in below the same period last year at £763.2m (2021: £1,104.7bn). 

Including the Netherlands, the company’s GWR during this period also witnessed a 26 per cent decrease to £747.8m (2021: £1,014.7bn), with its underlying EBITDA also dropping by 70 per cent to £90m (£304.5m).

Similar to its Q3 reportings though, when Kindred removed its Netherlands operations from its January to September figures, its gross winnings revenues only witnessed a five per cent decline. 

However, despite the facts provided by Kindred, the firm’s CEO, Henrik Tjärnström, believes the company is off to a “flying start” in the Netherlands. 

He stated: “At the start of the third quarter, we were finally able to welcome Dutch residents to our Unibet.nl site, following a nine-month period of not accepting bets from the Netherlands. Thanks to our strong brand awareness, unique product offerings, and an excellent team, we are off to a flying start. 

“Like the Netherlands, most of our markets are displaying solid performances. This has significantly improved our underlying EBITDA margin and free cash flow when compared to the second quarter of 2022, which is a good indicator of our scalable business model.”

“Following a slow start to the quarter, due to a seasonally tame sports calendar in July, activity increased rapidly as football leagues resumed in early August. This is encouraging as we have the World Cup in Qatar taking place in November and December. Activity has been high across markets with gross winnings revenue excluding the Netherlands increasing by eight per cent compared to the same period last year. 

“The sports betting margin came in at 9.9 per cent after free bets, higher than the same period last year and above the long-term average margin.”

“Since launching in the Netherlands on July 4 until the quarter end, active customers for the Dutch market have grown to 137,000. Based on this momentum, we estimate to achieve a 15 per cent market share in the Netherlands in the fourth quarter.

“As previously communicated and as expected during a re-regulation process, we will gradually absorb the margin pressures resulting from the Dutch re-regulation. For the third quarter of 2022 we achieved underlying EBITDA of £40.3m and an underlying EBITDA margin of 15 per cent. 

“I am confident we have now passed the worst in terms of underlying EBITDA margin, with the third quarter already showing significant improvements compared to previous quarters. This is a step in the right direction towards our underlying EBITDA margin target of 21 to 22 per cent in 2025.”

Figures relating to Kindred’s subsidiary Relax Gaming were also down in the third quarter when compared to the previous year, amounting to £60.3m (2021: £71.8m), however, Kindred stressed that it impacted positively by the reassessment of the fair value of Relax Gaming contingent consideration of £39.6m. 

Looking into the same figures for the period between January and September of this year when compared to last, profit dropped from £259.6m in 2021 to £74.9m in 2022. 

Looking ahead, Tjärnström concluded: “We continue to await the UK Gambling Act Review, which is delayed due to the governmental changes in the UK. While we expect increased affordability requirements, we remain positive on the clarity of future regulations and believe that enhanced sustainability measures will benefit our operations in the long term as risk levels will decrease.

“We now look forward to a very exciting fourth quarter, with the Football World Cup taking place between November 20 and December 18. The World Cup tournament is always a great opportunity for customer acquisition and reactivation, which normally means very high activity levels at the end of the tournament.”

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Publishing its interim 2021 third quarter trading report – covering the nine months ending 29 november 2021 – EveryMatrix noted that Germany accounted for 24 per cent of its gross gaming revenue for Q3 2021, in comparison to 50 per cent in Q3 2020.

Despite its German decline, EveryMatrix affirmed that ‘overall strong positive earnings’ have provided ‘further scope for investment’ in its casino product. 

Moreover, a total of 70 proprietary exclusive games were launched, with 22 released via EveryMatrix RGS in Q3 2021, with investment in vendor integrations and content for clients occurring throughout the year.

“The strong financial performance this quarter confirms our ability to deliver on the growth strategy we have set out,” said Ebbe Groes, group CEO of EveryMatrix.

“In the casino segment, we saw a significant impact of the regulatory changes in Germany, where EveryMatrix is particularly strong. But the diversity of our client base as well as our well-balanced product portfolio means that this nine-month period is still strongly up on the year before.”

Alongside its casino performance, EveryMatrix lauded its strong performance across its three main business verticals during the first nine months of 2021, outlining plans for further investments to support its US expansion. 

The B2B gaming technology provider reported year-on-year gross profits of €37.6m, an increase of 35 per cent, as Q3 registered a profit increase of 46 per cent on 2020 comparatives to €12.6m. 

In addition to the above, the period EBITDA increased by 77 per cent year-on-year to €14.8m. During Q3, EveryMatrix registered a 12 per cent EBITDA increase to €4.4m, reflecting an EBITDA margin of 34 per cent, whilst net cash stood at €7.7m. 

Key events during Q3 included an expansion of EveryMatrix’s US operations via agreements with Resorts Digital Gaming and Kindred Group, as well as the launch of tier-one client winnmasters into regulated markets such as Greece, utilising its full sports, casino and platform suite.

Lastly, EveryMatrix’s platform operations recorded gross profit of close to €3m by the conclusion of the third quarter – in comparison to ‘close to zero’ in Q3 2020 – bolstered by reduced operating costs and ‘increased effectiveness’ as a result of a restructuring. 

This reorganisation saw the integration of MoneyMatrix into the GamMatrix product offering, as well as the launch of 16 payment integrations covering 42 payment methods into the wider platform service. 

“We continue to expand footprint by attracting tier-one clients through our compelling product offering consisting of highly scalable and modular software platforms and solutions,” Groes continued.

“A key part of our growth strategy is to have a well-balanced portfolio comprising our three business segments, casino, sports, and platform. This mix enables us to have a healthy split of revenues. The importance of this strategy is clearly demonstrated by this quarter’s results.”

Moving forward, EveryMatrix stated its intent to expand within the US sports betting and gaming market. Commenting on the firm’s North American plans, Groes remarked: “Our expansion plan for the highly attractive US market is progressing very well. We now have an office, an experienced team, a pipeline that is delivering sales, and we continue to advance with the licensing process.”

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Exceeding both tablet and computer gaming, BGaming’s figures revealed that almost 95 per cent of its players chose to play its titles on their mobile devices, compared to nearly three per cent for computers and two per cent on tablets, respectively.

Additionally, BGaming noted that it witnessed a rise in young adults playing its slots, with nearly a six per cent rise over the past year. 

“When composing the road map of our games, we always rely on the analytics that our

team collects,” stated Marina Ostrovtsova, executive director at BGaming. “Of course, we strive to meet the needs of different generations, but it is important to be flexible and notice any changes in the market on time. 

“So, for example, we see that the demand for exclusive products is growing. The audience wants to see unique games created according to their requests. And this is what we are working on, producing brand exclusive games for operators.”

Over the past several months, BGaming has been analysing current trends within the igaming sector to determine the latest and most influential change to the market. 

Another one of these trends comes in the form of cryptocurrency, which the company stated “wins the market” after 2021 saw an explosion of digital currency across every aspect of life. This is no different to the igaming industry, with suppliers, including BGaming, introducing crypto into its titles. 

Noting the forever popular Bitcoin continuing to be the most popular form of crypto, BGaming pinpointed the rise of Litecoin across Q3 – increasing by 49 per cent – and revealed that the company calculated a 108 per cent increase in the use of Tether across its brand’s slots during the third quarter.

Bogdan Gres, brand team lead at BGaming, added: “Being the world’s first igaming provider to offer cryptocurrencies, we draw particular attention to crypto gambling. BGaming widens its network of crypto projects and we see the results. 

The number of explosive winnings on crypto projects has significantly risen over the past few months.”

Onto its own catalogue of titles, BGaming stated that Aloha King Elvis was the fastest growing slot of 2021 and has “almost” caught up in popularity with its predecessor – Elvis Frog in Vegas. 

On the title, Gres concluded: “We wanted to continue the story of cue Elvis which has already become a symbol of BGaming. The game met our expectations. Moreover, new features such as buy bonus and chance 2.5 added in October also stimulated popularity growth.”

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Publishing its Q3 2021 results, the company’s chief executive officer, Thomas Rosander, noted that its efforts throughout the period has “paved the way” for the addition of casino which he highlights as an important near-term revenue driver, expected to be live in Q4. 

“The team has been focused on  enhancing our proprietary platform by building a superior business intelligence infrastructure, offering a unique and modern user experience tailored to the next generation of bettors, while ensuring maximum coverage of esports betting opportunities,” Rosander stated. 

“I am delighted to say our efforts during Q3 have paved the way for the addition of casino, which is an important anticipated near-term revenue driver that we expect to be live in Q4. As a result, we will be in a position to launch our player acquisition efforts in Q1 2022, by starting meaningful marketing for the first time in the company’s history.”

During the quarter, Real Luck completed several platform integrations, as part of its previously communicated platform rebuild strategy. These include: Solitics for customer engagement and business analytics; Aspire Global for casino games, sportsbook including esports; Funanga for secure cash deposits; Bambora for expanding payment option; and Checkin.com for customer onboarding.

Following September 30, Real Luck announced the appointment of data scientist David Conde as its new head of data with the aim to build a “superior” business intelligence infrastructure. 

Moreover, the company confirmed the partnership with payment provider Nuvei, with the latter now fully integrated and live on the Luckbox platform. Real Luck noted that the link-up will allow new and existing customers a comprehensive choice of payment options when betting on its platform. 

In regard to its casino launch, Real luck noted that its team has continued to work with new partners to serve its existing player base, along with finalising improvements to its Luckbox platform in preparation for the launch of casino in Q4 2021 and subsequent player acquisition efforts. 

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Recording a 19 per cent decrease overall in Europe compared to the same period in 2020, Germany’s NGR witnessed a steep 83 per cent drop during the quarter, with the market now accounting for three per cent of the group’s total revenue, compared to 17 per cent last year. 

Despite the European downtrend, LeoVegas reported that it experienced growth in “most markets,” with Spain and Italy noted as the fastest growing markets during the quarter. 

The Nordic countries were reported as the largest region during the third quarter and accounted for 44 per cent of the group’s NGR with the rest of Europe accounting for 34 per cent, while the rest of world accounted for 22 per cent.

Describing the quarter as an ‘intensive re-regulation period’ due to the implementation of the regulatory framework for the emerging Dutch online betting market and the re-regulation of the German sector with the launch of the Fourth Interstate Gambling Treaty, LeoVegas disclosed that total revenue rose by 21 per cent when both markets are discounted.

Developments in the Netherlands in particular were described as creating a “somewhat turbulent and difficult to navigate current situation in the gaming industry”. In particular the decision by the Dutch regulator, the Kansspelautoriteit towards the close of September to require all gaming operators that had not yet been granted a licence under the terms of the KOA Act to cease operations in the country.

Commenting on the European results, Gustaf Hagman, president and CEO at LeoVegas, explained: “We are satisfied with our performance during the third quarter and increased our revenue by 12 per cent compared with the same period a year ago. Excluding Germany, which has been dramatically affected by the ongoing re-regulation, consolidated revenue increased by 31 per cent.

“All key markets performed well during the quarter, where our home market in Sweden was the brightest star. The favourable revenue growth for the group confirms that the strategy to simultaneously scale up a number of markets and relaunch the Expekt brand has been a success. The company today is more diversified than ever, and we have succeeded in compensating for the sharp drop in revenue in Germany.”

In contrast to its European counterpart, the company’s results revealed that its ‘Rest of World’ region saw an NGR increase of 42 per cent compared to 2020, with LeoVegas noting that development was “strong” in most markets and pinpointed Canada as the largest market with high double-digit growth during the period. 

Moreover, revenue from locally regulated markets, and markets in which the group pays local gaming taxes, accounted for 66 per cent of total revenue during the third quarter (2020: 68 per cent). 

Additionally, the share of regulated revenue increased slightly compared with the preceding quarter, with the strong Swedish performance being highlighted as a key driver.

LeoVegas’ gross profit for the third quarter came in at SEK 66.3m, corresponding to a gross margin of 66.8 per cent, a slight 2.4 per cent decrease from the previous year. Moreover, gaming taxes totalled €15.9m (2020: €12.4m), resulting in 16 per cent of revenue, up from 13.9 per cent in 2020. 

The firm’s casino sector also accounted for 76 per cent of its gross gaming revenue, with live casino reporting 14 per cent and sportsbook 10 per cent, LeoVegas noted that the increase of the latter compared to Q3 2020 was mainly driven by the acquisition of Expekt. 

Furthermore, the Q3 trading report revealed that the average player value per depositing customer was €205, an increase of one per cent compared to Q2 of this year and a five per cent rise compared with the same quarter last year.

At the same time, the player value was lower than the “historic average,” which LeoVegas cited was mainly explained by “a larger share of players playing for fun and a changed geographical mix, which is in line with the company’s growth strategy”.

“During the quarter we delivered a stable operating profit compared with a year ago, despite a sharp increase in paid gaming taxes and higher marketing investments in relation to revenue compared with a year ago,” explained Hagman.

“In pace with growing revenue, the share of marketing investment is expected to gradually decrease from the current levels. At the same time, we have continued to invest in product and technology ahead of forthcoming market expansions, including the upcoming US launch. 

“We are seeing some normalisation of office and travel-related costs as the pandemic is hopefully nearing its end, while general cost control in the group continues to be good. All in all, we expect – through the economies of scale provided by a larger revenue base – to be able to deliver good earnings growth going forward.”

LeoVegas also witnessed its revenue increase by 12 per cent to €99.4 per cent (2020: €88.9) with organic growth in local currencies witnessing an eight per cent rise.

Company operations during the third quarter saw LeoVegas repurchase shares for €2.5m and paid out the second dividend – €3.9m – of a total of four quarterly dividends to the parent company’s shareholders. Moreover, the firm expanded its existing bond issue by SEK 200m.

Q3 also saw the launch of its new AI-powered functionality to scale up the group’s responsible gaming efforts with customers in the UK becoming the first to receive product-integrated and personalised messages based on their own behaviours and gaming history. 

Looking at the start of the next quarter, Hagman concluded: “Revenue for the month of October amounted to €31.1 m (2020: €32.8), representing negative growth of five per cent. Excluding Germany and the Netherlands, revenue increased by 21 per cent. The sportsbook margin was abnormally low in October, which had a negative impact on revenue, while underlying customer activity has remained solid.”

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Amounting to €9.2m (2020: €4.2m), the results revealed that of the total revenue, 25.6 per cent of it was organic, compared to 3.2 per cent in the year previous, pinpointing the main contributor was its Swedish portfolio of assets and continued growth in markets outside of Europe through Casumba, as well as its network/sub-affiliation sales. 

Additionally, Raketech’s Q3 results showed its adjusted EBITDA amounted to €4.4m (2020: €2.9m), corresponding to a margin of 46 per cent, up from 39.8 per cent the year previous, highlighting a “strong operational efficiency,” along with higher revenues through organic growth in new product categories, within its existing portfolio, as a result of geographical expansion, as well as added revenues through recent acquisitions.

Moreover, earnings per share after dilution amounted to €0.05, representing an increase of 50.6 per cent. 

Commenting on the Q3 results, Oskar Mühlbach, CEO at Raketech, explained: “Q3 of 2021 was another operationally and financially strong quarter for Raketech. Total revenues amounted to €9.6m which is a new all-time high, corresponding to just over 30 per cent annual growth of which the majority was organic at 26 per cent. 

“As a result of strong operational efficiency in combination with a favourable sales mix, adjusted EBITDA grew by 51 per cent, totalling €4.4m and adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 46 per cent, where the recently acquired high margin assets contributed positively to the margin increase.”

Raketech’s Q3 period saw the company complete two acquisitions – P&P Vegas Group and all assets from QM Media, as well as Infinileads, moves which it said strengthened its presence in the US, Spain, Italy and India. 

In December 2018, Raketech entered into an agreement with Swedbank for a revolving credit facility of €10m. In March 2021, the utilised amount of the credit facility amounting to €2m was repaid in full. 

On September 2, 2021, Raketech requested an early cancellation of the credit facility with Swedbank and the release of the pledged shares. Furthermore, in July 2021, the company entered into an agreement with Avida Finans for a one-year revolving credit facility of €15m with an interest rate of 4.25 per cent. 

The credit facility with Avida Finans replaced the existing facility with Swedbank and includes an extension option and can be renewed annually from its first date of utilisation subject to certain conditions. 

As of September 30, 2021, the utilised credit amounts to €7.5m. The contractual terms of the new revolving credit facility with Avida Finans AB require Raketech Holding PLC to pledge its entire shareholding in Raketech Group Limited to the lender as collateral.

Another area of growth for the group is its strategical operational goals which saw its non-Nordic share of revenues double year-on-year, up by 40 per cent compared to 20 per cent in 2020, along with a total increase of 16 per cent in sport shares (2020: 11 per cent).

Following the end of the Q3 reporting period, Raketech reported October revenues amounting to €3.8m (2020: €2.6m). Additionally, on November 9, the company announced the acquisition of US tipster assets, providing tailored pre-game insights for sports, for €13.4m, of which €11.3m will be settled in cash. 

The additional purchase price will be settled through the issuance of Raketech shares amounting to €2.1m. 

On its US acquisitions, Mühlbach stated: “With the US sports calendar filling up during Q4 and Q1, in combination with our recent US acquisitions with assets such as picks&parlays and winnersandwhiners, we furthermore expect our US share of total to increase and for the US to be added to the list of substantial growth markets already during next quarter.

“Winnersandwhiners is a selected asset within the portfolio of pickster assets in the latest acquisition as finalised just before this report. With these assets added to the Raketech portfolio, US revenues are expected to reach up to 20 per cent of the group total already in Q1 of 2022.

“In addition to giving us a strong position within the US pickster market, we also aim to add the full power of Raketech’s SEO and tech expertise as well as Raketech’s commercials such as affiliation, CRM and media to further accelerate growth.”

Looking towards the Q4 trading period, Raketech predicts a “traditionally strong quarter” within the igaming industry, with eyes set on the lifting of gambling restrictions in Sweden from November 14.

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The company’s casino revenue in the third quarter witnessed a slight decrease of two per cent to SEK 1,275.7m (2020: 1,306.5m) compared to Q2, a dip the firm notes was “largely driven by” decreased activity in Germany following regulation changes. 

Publishing its Q3 trading update, Betsson also highlighted the decreased activity in the UK as a result of the firm’s consolidation and focus on only one brand whilst casino represented 74 per cent of the group’s revenue.

Moreover, mobile casino revenue came in at SEK 1,046.9m (£984.1m) and accounted for 82 per cent of the total casino revenue.

Commenting on the report, Pontus Lindwall, president and CEO of Betsson AB, noted: “Against the background of strong development this year, it was unfortunate that the Dutch Gaming Authority unexpectedly published a new policy at the end of September that entails a deviation from the previously communicated guidelines during the cooling off period. 

“The new policy implies that operators who are waiting out the cooling off period is forced to cease operations completely, pending an obtained licence. Based on the new policy, Betsson decided to temporarily stop accepting Dutch customers on international websites in order to create good conditions for the upcoming licensing process. 

“Betsson continues to have strong faith in the Dutch market and an ambition to be able to conduct business in the future in accordance with the new regulations. The efforts to prepare the licence applications and preparations for certifying our technical platform in the Dutch market are ongoing.”

During the quarter, Betsson released 294 new casino games, 16 of which came with a period of exclusivity for Betsson’s brands. This corresponds to an average of four new games per day and an increase of 54 games compared with the previous quarter.

At the beginning of the third quarter Betsson had a total of 3,300 games available; taking into account variations connected to regions, markets and brands this means that the company manages over 5,600 game titles on Techsson including 145 poker games and 300 live casino games. 

Alongside the slight decline in casino revenue, the Nasdaq Stockholm registered group reported overall revenue of SEK 1,733.3m, representing a three per cent increase on the corresponding quarter in 2020 (2020: 1,676.7m).

Meanwhile, the firm increased both its number of active customers by seven per cent to 986,429 (2020: 920,045) and net income from SEK 290.6m Q3 2020 to SEK 287.4m, although group EBIT experienced a decline to SEK 323.6m (2020: 329.1m), a drop of 17 per cent on the previous year.

Of the group’s divisions, sportsbook revenue increased by 24 per cent to SEK 435.7m (2020: 352.6m) of which 81 per cent came via mobile verticals. Success in sports betting operations was further bolstered by revenues of SEK 21.9m (2020: 17.6m) from poker, bingo and other products, a rise of 24 per cent.

“After several records during the previous quarter, we managed to increase revenue by just over three per cent during the third quarter, compared with the corresponding quarter last year, which was a very strong quarter,” Lindwall explained.

“At that time, the strong increase in revenue was driven by a surge in demand for digital entertainment. The further increase in revenue is explained by the successes with our sportsbook in combination with good results in the ending rounds of the Euro 2020 and Conmebol Copa América and the return of the domestic football leagues from mid-August. 

“All in all, this has resulted in sportsbook revenue increasing by approximately 24 per cent year-on-year. The increase in revenue has also benefited from successes in new markets such as LatAm, Croatia and Greece.”

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