ZEAL Network SE, the leading German online provider of lottery products, significantly increased its billings and revenue in the first nine months of 2023. In addition, ZEAL acquired more new customers than in the previous year, further strengthening the basis for future revenue growth.

“The strong growth in our billings and revenue proves that we continue to expand our market leadership,” says Sebastian Bielski, CFO of ZEAL. “The publication of the first figures for our online games business also show that ZEAL has made the right decision to enter this new line of business. The initial success in the online games segment also makes us confident that we are on track for further growth with our attractive and growing games offering.”

More sales and billings through marketing investments

Driven in part by a successful third quarter, ZEAL Group’s billings grew by 16 percent to € 633.2 million in the first nine months of 2023 (2022: € 544.4 million). At the same time, revenue also increased by 16 percent to € 86.0 million (2022: € 74.5 million). At 12.5 percent, the company’s gross margin was close to the previous year’s figure (2022: 12.8 percent).

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In the first nine months of the year, ZEAL was able to use the attractive jackpot phases in January, March, June and September to acquire new customers and further expand its business volume. The company intensified its marketing activities during high jackpot phases and promoted future sales growth through intensified TV advertising.

Strong EBITDA despite increased new customer acquisition

In the first nine months of 2023, ZEAL acquired 518 thousand new customers (2022: 501 thousand). Due to ongoing media-cost inflation, intensified competition for new customers in online channels, and the company’s strategic decision to invest into brand-building through increased TV advertising, the acquisition costs per registered new customer (cost per lead, CPL) were higher than in the previous year at € 46.81 (2022: € 36.42). Overall, marketing expenses were 27 percent higher than in the previous year at € 30.7 million (2022: € 24.1 million). For this reason, other operating expenses rose to € 48.8 million (2022: € 40.6 million). Even taking into account ZEAL’s increased investment into marketing, EBITDA increased by 5 percent to € 23.2 million (2022: € 22.0 million). EBIT amounted to € 16.7 million (2022: € 15.5 million) while the after-tax result for the period fell to € 10.1 million (2022: € 12.1 million) due to a € 1.1 million decrease in the financial result and a significant increase in tax expenses compared to the previous year.

First figures for Online Games

With the results for the third quarter of 2023, ZEAL is presenting its first business figures for its online games offering launched in June 2023. Since the launch of the offering, ZEAL has started to grow its games portfolio. Revenue in the third quarter of 2023 amounted to € 1.2 million. As the offering was started only recently there are no comparative figures for the previous year.

Forecast confirmed

For the 2023 financial year, ZEAL continues to plan to expand its market leadership as an online provider of lottery products and introduce new products, including additional online games. For the Germany segment, ZEAL anticipates billings from lotteries (excluding games) in the range of € 800 million to € 830 million, assuming an average jackpot development. In addition, ZEAL continues to assume that revenue in the 2023 financial year will be between € 110 million and € 120 million. ZEAL expects EBITDA to be in the range of € 30 million to € 35 million. The company continues to expect to invest significantly more in new customer acquisition compared to the previous year and expects marketing expenses of € 34 million to € 39 million.