Industry News
Better Collective provides extraordinary business update due to COVID-19 situation
Following the postponement of several sports events in many countries including the UEFA EURO 2020 due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the sports betting media group, Better Collective, provides an extraordinary business update with the following highlights:
- Until mid March, Better Collective’s business has shown strong performance and has not been notably affected by postponements of sports events caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
- In the last couple of days, major sports events have been postponed, leading to reduced sports betting activity to approximately half of normal levels. The esports and casino business have not been affected.
- The financial targets for 2020 remain unchanged until further, given certain assumptions.
- Better Collective’s business model and strong balance sheet allows for a high degree of flexibility in this changing environment.
Current business performance:
Better Collective’s business has not been notably affected by COVID-19 until mid March 2019, despite some sports events having been played without a physical audience and some events having been cancelled.
For Better Collective, February 2020 revenue ended in line with expectations with revenue of 6,9 mEUR corresponding to a growth of 27% (of which 13% was organic growth). Revenue in January and February 2020 combined amounts to 14,1 mEUR corresponding to a growth of 37% (of which 21% was organic growth). Measured on gross gaming activity in revenue share accounts, player activity in February was all time high.
Postponement of sports events
From mid March, almost all major sports events have been postponed. This includes the EURO 2020, as announced by The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), which is postponed to 2021. In the days after the almost full halt of all major sports events globally, sports betting activity has been reduced to approximately half of normal activity, whereas activities in esports and casino remain unchanged.
Following the postponement of several major sports events, Better Collective expects that some of the revenue, which would normally materialize in the first half of 2020, will either be lost or postponed until later in 2020 or to 2021, depending on the new scheduling of events.
Based upon the current activity level, Better Collective estimates that the postponement of EURO 2020 will imply an isolated revenue postponement of 2-4 mEUR from 2020 to 2021, whereas other cancellations/postponements may have a similar negative effect, in particular in the US, where the business is mostly exposed to the major sports leagues.
Financial targets:
The financial targets for 2020 remain unchanged (double-digit organic growth and total growth of >30%, operating margin (EBITA) >40% and Net Interest Bearing Debt/ EBITDA <2,5) until further, given the following assumptions:
- Reduced revenue in 2020 from EURO 2020, postponed to 2021, is estimated at 2-4 mEUR.
- Reduced revenue in 2020 from other postponed sports events is estimated at 4-6 mEUR.
- Esports (HLTV) and casino business continue to perform at regular levels.
- The estimated effect of reduced sports betting of a total 6-10 mEUR is based on the assumption that all major sports events, other than EURO 2020, will be back to a normal activity level in the second half of 2020.
- Costs are maintained at current levels and thus lower than budgeted for the full year, offsetting some of the reduced revenue.
Better Collective will on an ongoing basis evaluate the development of the business and potentially take measures to protect the business and cash flow if revenue will be impacted significantly by postponed sports events.
Flexible business model and strong balance sheet:
Better Collective operates in an online business that allows for a high degree of flexibility as operation is highly scalable and can take place almost anywhere. This allows the company to continue operations as usual while giving priority to the health and safety of the employees. Furthermore, the historical business model has to a high degree been based upon revenue share, where the large databases of players continue to generate revenue as long as betting events take place, thereby providing recurring revenue. In past periods with low activity in the absence of major sports events, there is normally still betting activity, i.e. on lower profiled sports events, virtual games, esports, casino. Therefore it can be expected that even though major sports events are not happening, there will still be betting activity.
Better Collective has a strong balance sheet and financing position. The net cash position was almost neutral at the end of February 2020, with a net bank debt (cash minus bank debt) of minus 13,9 mEUR after including upfront payment of approximately 24 mEUR in connection with the acquisition of HLTV.org ApS (esports) at the end of February. Cash and un-utilised committed bank credit facilities stood at 70 mEUR end of February 2020.
Jesper Søgaard, CEO of Better Collective, says:
“The COVID-19 has in many instances created an unprecedented situation for societies across the world. Just as many other companies, Better Collective will expectedly also be affected by the COVID-19, especially following the postponement of major sports events such as the EURO 2020. Nothing is more important than the health and safety of people and we look forward to the return of the sports we all enjoy, including a safe and exciting EURO 2021. Though visibility is currently limited, we stay optimistic that normal sports betting activity levels will be restored why our guidance remains unchanged.”
About Better Collective:
Better Collective’s vision is to empower iGamers through transparency and technology – this is what has made them the world’s leading developer of digital platforms for betting tips, bookmaker information and iGaming communities. Better Collective’s portfolio includes a range of websites and products, among other bettingexpert.com, the trusted home of tips from expert tipsters and in depth betting theory. Better Collective is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, and listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (BETCO).
Industry News
Sky Bet Relocates Headquarters to Malta
Reading Time: < 1 minute
Sky Bet has relocated its headquarters to Malta, a move that could cut its UK tax bill by tens of millions of pounds a year. The change will mean less money for the government at a time when the public finances are under strain.
The chancellor needs to increase tax revenues and is under pressure to levy higher duties on the betting industry – something the industry is aggressively campaigning against. Sky Bet, which describes itself as “the UK’s No. 1 betting app,” has moved its sportsbetting business to the Maltese branch of a new UK company, SBG Sports Limited.
Flutter Entertainment PLC, Sky Bet’s parent company, first told staff about the move in June, alongside a plan to make around 250 people in the UK redundant. At a meeting which was live-streamed across Flutter’s “UK and Ireland” business, workers in Leeds, Sunderland, London, Dublin, Gibraltar, Porto and Cluj were told the relocation of Sky Bet to Malta was driven by a “need to operate more efficiently” and to reduce costs.
Steve Birch, chief commercial officer of Sky Betting and Gaming, said that from November 1, “day-to-day commercial and marketing decision making will take place in Malta,” although Sky Bet’s Leeds office would continue to be one of Flutter’s largest.
The post Sky Bet Relocates Headquarters to Malta appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
financial results
GiG Software PLC Q3 Trading Results
Reading Time: 2 minutes
GiG Software Plc, a leading B2B iGaming technology company, has announced its financial results for the third quarter ended 30 September 2025 (Q3 2025).
Key Operational Highlights
• Delivered three launches across Q3 2025, including GiG’s market-leading sportsbook in the UK, with two additional launches released following the end of the quarter
• Ongoing new business momentum continued, with five commercial agreements signed, including an agreement to supply the technology to a European Lottery alongside new business wins targeting the Brazilian market
• Continued progress against the Company’s key strategic growth priorities, in particular leveraging AI across the iGaming vertical
• Post quarter end, the Company entered into a commercial agreement with a European Operator to provide platform and sportsbook services to the French market.
Financial Summary of Q3 2025
• Q3 2025 revenue of €9.7 million (Q3 2024: €7.4 million), up 31% YoY
• Q3 2025 Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2025 increased €2.3 million to €1.2 million (Q3 2024: loss of €1.1 million) at a margin of 13% (Q3 2024: -15%)
• Q3 2025 operating loss reduced to €3.5 million (Q3 2024: underlying loss of €9.7 million)
• Cash and cash equivalents balance of €4.7 million as at 30 September 2025 (30 September 2024: €10.0 million; 31 December 2024: €6.4 million).
At the end of Q3 2025, GiG received €11m in relation to the Company’s directed share issue. In light of this, the Board is satisfied with the current strength of the Company’s Balance Sheet and, in the interest of all shareholders, do not currently envisage the need for additional funds.
Results for the First Nine Months of 2025
Revenue for the first nine months of 2025 (9M 2025) was up 22% YoY to €28.0 million (9M 2024: €23.0 million)
Adjusted EBITDA for 9M 2025 amounted to €2.6 million (9M 2024: underlying loss of €3.1 million), at a margin of 9% (9M 2024: -13%)
Operating loss for 9M 2025 reduced to €11.6 million (9M 2024: underlying loss of €22.1 million)
Richard Carter, Chief Executive Officer of GiG, said: “We continue to be encouraged with our ongoing financial and operational progress across the business. Our new business momentum has been supported by a number of key strategic new business wins, including recent gains targeting the Brazilian market and GiG securing a major European Lottery, marking our first entry into the lottery vertical.
“Q3 represented another period of progress for GiG and further evolution of the business. We continue to refine our go-to-market strategy and evolve our highly scalable technology platform complemented by an increasingly data-driven, AI-empowered operating model.”
The post GiG Software PLC Q3 Trading Results appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
ATG
BOS in debate with Svenska Spel and ATG on SvD Debatt on bonuses in the gambling market
Reading Time: 4 minutes
On November 7, the CEOs of the gambling companies Svenska Spel and ATG published an op-ed in one of Sweden’s main newspapers – Svenska Dagbladet – in which they propose a total ban on all bonuses in the Swedish licensed gambling market.
BOS – the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling – responds today in the same paper that such a ban would unilaterally benefit Svenska Spel and ATG commercially, at the cost of poorer consumer protection in Sweden. The latter is related to the fact that a total bonus ban is expected to contribute to an accelerated transition from legally licensed gambling to unregulated unlicensed gambling.
“The elephant in the room for consumer protection is that consumers are to such a large extent absent from the legally licensed part of the gambling market. Instead, they have chosen the unregulated unlicensed market to an alarming extent, partly because of the very generous bonus systems offered there. We should not have that kind of excesses with sky-high bonuses in the licensed market, but to completely ban any form of moderate bonus offer is to give up the fight of defending the licensed gambling market and its consumer protection,” says BOS Secretary General Gustaf Hoffstedt.
Svenska Spel’s and ATG’s debate article is available here: https://www.svd.se/a/nyky6B/bonusar-maste-bort-driver-pa-ungas-spelande-skriver-debattorer
BOS’ debate article is available here, signed by Gustaf Hoffstedt, published today, November 14: https://www.svd.se/a/GyvAK4/spelbolagschefer-driver-spelarna-till-olagliga-spel-skriver-gustaf-hoffstedt
A translated version of Gustaf Hoffstedt’s op-ed can be read below:
Svenska Spel and ATG sacrifice consumer protection
Tighten the conditions for licensed gambling companies even further, demand gambling company CEOs Anna Johnson and Hasse Lord Skarplöth, Svenska Spel and ATG respectively, on SvD Debatt. Today, all forms of programs for loyal gambling customers are already prohibited in the Gaming Act. Johnson and Lord Skarplöth want this ban to now be extended to the currently permitted bonuses for new gambling customers. All in the name of protecting the gambling consumer.
Their reasoning may seem logical to someone who is not more deeply familiar with the conditions in the gambling market. What the reasoning, however, completely ignores is the elephant in the room when it comes to consumer protection in the Swedish gambling market: that consumers are increasingly abandoning licensed gambling companies in favour of companies that operate outside the regulated gambling market. According to a recent study by ATG, one of the signatories of the op-ed, the share of unlicensed online casino gambling can now account for just over 40 percent of turnover. In the unlicensed gambling market, the absence of consumer protection is total. The Swedish state receives zero kronor in gambling tax there and zero kronor in profit from its own state-owned gambling operations.
In the name of good consumer protection, the 40 percent lost to the unlicensed gambling market outweighs the 60 percent who still play licensed. This is because most high-volume gamblers are found among the 40 percent. High-volume gamblers are not synonymous with problem gamblers, but it is among these 40 percent that Swedish consumer protection needs to reach. Which it does not do today.
We believe that everyone agrees and is concerned that gambling among young people under the age of 18 is a growing problem, but to claim that this is due to the welcome bonuses that are currently offered to adult players, without mentioning how today’s young people learn to play for money through so-called skins and loot boxes in their favourite games, is not serious. Especially since data from our neighbouring country Denmark clearly points to the latter as the main reason for the increase in youth problem gambling there.
A high proportion of legally licensed gambling is achieved through striking a balance between consumer protection and gambling pleasure. The gambling consumers must themselves want to be in the licensed gambling market. If this is not achieved, the entire system will collapse.
The gambling authority Spelinspektionen has asked gambling consumers why they prefer to play unlicensed in Sweden to such a large extent. Among the main explanations is always the absence of loyalty programs for existing customers. Now Johnson and Lord Skarplöth also want to remove the possibility of giving a bonus to a new gambling customer. If they get their way, we probably haven’t seen the bottom yet in how low the proportion of legally licensed gambling can fall. As a reference, the Netherlands can be mentioned, whose gambling authority KSA recently announced that the proportion of illegal gambling now accounts for more than half of their gambling market.
So why are Svenska Spel and ATG acting in this way? Well, because even in a shrinking legal gambling market, there are market shares to defend. Both of these gambling companies, which emerged from the Swedish gambling monopoly, took significant market shares with them from the start when the Swedish gambling market was reregulated in 2019. The fact that their competitors, who in many cases start with zero customers on their data base, are prohibited from offering a bonus when a new customer is recruited is of course tempting for the old monopolists.
But they bite their own tail. Because with demands for further restrictions on the legal licensed gambling market, they can only defend their market share in an increasingly shrinking license market.
This is sad to see, because the Swedish gems ATG and Svenska Spel, where in the latter case all Swedes are part-owners of the company, could instead have shown leadership in defending a sustainable gambling license market. These two companies could have brought together the gambling market, or at least the members of their own trade association, for some common good. However, they ignore this and run solo games for short-term benefit for themselves, but not for Sweden and above all not for consumer protection in the gambling market.
Gustaf Hoffstedt, Secretary General, BOS – The Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling
The post BOS in debate with Svenska Spel and ATG on SvD Debatt on bonuses in the gambling market appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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