Q1 round-up: Revenue growth for Full House and DoubleDown

The headline figure for both Full House and DoubleDown in Q1 is an increase in revenue. However, when it came to turning a net profit, one proved more successful than the other.

Starting with DoubleDown, revenue in the three months to 31 March amounted to $57.1m (£70.6m/€82.0m), up 13.5% year-on-year.

As was the case in the 2023 full year, DoubleDown said growth was helped by its acquisition of SuprNation late last year. DoubleDown paid $36.5m to acquire the business, with this contributing $8.3m in revenue in Q1.

However, revenue without SuprNation was still 2.8% higher than the $77.6m reported in Q1 last year.

Other key figures for DoubleDown in Q1 include average revenue per daily active user ARPDAU rising from $1.03 to $1.26. In addition, average monthly revenue per payer for social casino and free-to-play games increased from $221 to $281.

In terms of costs, operating expenses were 9.4% higher at $57.1m. However, this was more than offset by $7.3m in other income, comprising foreign currency gain and interest income.

As such, pre-tax profit increased 46.0% to $7.3m. DoubleDown paid $8.0m in tax, leaving a net profit of $30.3m, up 27.9% year-on-year. In addition, adjusted EBITDA jumped 25.6% to $31.9m.

“We believe our consistently strong adjusted EBITDA margins and free cash flow generation again highlights our commitment and success in prioritising capital efficiency,” CEO In Keuk Kim said.

“Our operating strategies that drive strong free cash flow, combined with our balance sheet, provides the company with significant financial flexibility to evaluate opportunities to deploy capital to pursue both organic and accretive acquisition-related growth in related gaming categories to generate attractive profitable growth and additional cash flow thereby creating new value for our shareholders.”

Full House remains at net loss in Q1

Turning to Full House, growth within its casino division pushed revenue up 39.5% to $69.9m. Casino revenue was 43.6% higher at $51.7m – 74.0% of all revenue – and while there was growth in other areas, this was minimal in comparison to casino.

Going segment-by-segment, each part of the business posted growth. Midwest & South, which includes the American Place venue in Illinois, led the way with $54.6m in revenue, a rise of 33.9%. 

Elsewhere, West revenue also increased by 60.4% to $13.0m, while Contracted Sports Wagering revenue hiked 91.7% to $2.3m.

Accompanying this increase were higher costs, with total operating expenses up 23.5% to $70.5m. Casino and selling, general and administrative costs were by far the main outgoings for Full House.

Interest expense of $10.3m meant a pre-tax loss of $10.9m, shorter than last year’s $11.4m loss. However, Full House paid $416,000 in tax, whereas last year it received tax benefits.

As such, it ended Q1 with a total net loss of $11.3m, only marginally better than $11.4m in 2023. However, adjusted EBITDA improved by 22.8% to $12.4m.

“We had a strong quarter of growth, led by American Place,” Full House CEO Daniel Lee said. “Typical of most new casino openings, American Place has continued to improve its operations since its opening just over a year ago. 

“During the first quarter, quarterly revenues at American Place rose to their highest yet – $25.8m.”