Bet-at-home revenue falls 13% in Q1 2020

Bet-at-home’s Q1 gross gaming revenue (GGR) has fallen more than 13% year-on-year to €32.2m as issues in Switzerland and Poland, as opposed to coronavirus, took their toll.

With sporting events postponed and cancelled across the world, Bet-at-home reported a drop in sales for its online sports betting segment, leaving online gaming to pick up the slack.

For Q1 2020, Bet-at-home saw €114.4m wagered on its online sports operation, a drop of almost €30m from Q1 2019 (€142.9m).

Bet-at-home did note that the expansion of esports, as well as sports events in more exotic leagues, had supported sports betting in the absence of major competitions.

Online gaming accounted for 57.6% of Q1 2020 GGR at €18.6m – a  decrease from Q1 2019 where online GGR reached €22.3m.

Instead of pointing towards the coronavirus pandemic, Bet-at-home said “the loss of essential parts of the Swiss market and the significant decline in the Polish market” was behind the GGR drop-off.

Elsewhere, EBITDA was down 28.8% year-on-year from €12.7m in 2019 to €9m in 2020. Profit also fell by nearly a quarter (24.8%) from €7.75m to €5.8m.

Bet-at-home has however made significant savings on marketing costs with fewer bonuses being taken by customers and the postponement of the 2020 European Championships coming into play.

Marketing expenses for Q1 2020 came in at €6.6m compared to €8.2m in Q1 2019.

Looking ahead to the remainder of 2020, Bet-at-home noted that it expected GGR to be between €120m and €132m for 2020.

A statement read: “The decline in gross betting and gaming revenue compared to the 2019 financial year is attributable to the loss of essential parts of the Swiss market and the significant decline in the Polish market.

“A potential decline in revenues due to regulatory changes in Germany can currently not be estimated and is therefore not considered.”

Regulus Partners analyst Paul Leyland said: “In the medium term, Bet-at-home has a more nuanced risk profile. Poland and Switzerland have demonstrated the dangers of European .com exposure that may be significantly exacerbated by changes in Germany.

“Further, Bet-at-home is likely to be up against increasingly flexible competition from newer operators even in its .com markets, which is hard to confront with either R&D or marketing without growth. Bet-at-home’s short-term strengths can therefore be seen as structural weaknesses,” he added.