Betsson boosted by casino, sportsbook investments in Q3

Betsson has highlighted investments in its casino and sportsbook businesses as the driving force behind a year-on-year rise in revenue during the third quarter.

Group revenue for the period came in at SEK1.1 billion (€109.7 million/$119.6 million), up 9% on the previous year.

Casino contributed SEK731.8 million to this total, 11% more than last year, while the firm’s sportsbook arm was responsible for SEK300.2 million in revenue, up 9% on the third quarter of 2015.

Betsson also noted significant growth within its mobile business, with revenue from this part of the company up 55% year-on-year to SEK504.2 million, which represents 47% of group revenue.

Elsewhere, operating income hiked to SEK272.9 million with a margin of 25.7%, while net income was also up to SEK254.1 million, corresponding to SEK1.84 per share.

The results mean that revenue for the first nine months of the current year now stands at just under SEK3 billion, up from SEK2.7 billion last year.

However, operating income for the nine-month period is down from SEK712.1 million to SEK681.3 million, while net income also fell from SEK672.2 million to SEK634.5 million.

Ulrik Bengtsson, chief executive of Betsson, said: “The strong performance in the third quarter shows that the challenges we had in the second quarter were of a temporary nature.

“The investments in Betsson’s casino and sportsbook products has driven the revenue growth during the quarter where for example the Nordic region grew by 22%, and investments in these products will continue in the coming quarters.

“The scalability of the business model enabled the operating margin to return to historically strong levels.”

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