ZEAL, the leading German online provider of lottery products, has made a successful start to fiscal year 2023. This is evidenced by the key figures from the company’s first quarterly report.

ZEAL continued to expand its customer base by adding 143 thousand registered new customers. The CPL (cost per lead) of EUR 36.77 fell slightly year-on-year (2022: EUR 38.09).

The transaction volume increased by 11% to 201.2 million euros (2022: 181.2 million euros). This resulted in sales revenues of 26.7 million euros – an increase of 6% compared to the previous year. The company’s gross margin of 12.4% was 0.5% below the previous year’s level (2022: 12.9%) due to the product mix. Overall, ZEAL was able to increase EBITDA by 0.4 million euros to 9.3 million euros (2022: 8.9 million euros). EBIT also exceeded its prior-year figure at 7.1 million euros (2022: 6.8 million euros). Due to a EUR 0.8 million increase in tax expenses, net profit for the period decreased to EUR 4.4 million (2022: EUR 5.0 million).

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The dividend proposal of 3.60 euros per share was also adopted at ZEAL’s Annual General Meeting on May 9, 2023 in Hamburg.

Probably the most important highlight for the ZEAL Group so far in 2023 was the long-awaited granting of permission to offer virtual slot games (online games) by the Joint Gaming Authority of the Federal States (GGL). With the granting of the permit, the market leader for online lotteries in Germany enters a new market segment and achieves an important milestone for the further expansion of its business.

Another milestone for ZEAL is the company’s membership of the World Lottery Association (WLA). The WLA is a world organization of state-licensed lotteries, sports betting providers and suppliers. Admission to this circle demonstrates the online market leader’s high industry reputation and commits the company to compliance with WLA standards for social responsibility, responsible gaming, security and risk management.

For the fiscal year 2023, ZEAL still plans to expand its market leadership as an online provider of lottery products and to launch new products, including virtual slot games under the newly obtained license. In this context, the company continues to expect a billings volume in the range of EUR 800 million to EUR 830 million for the Germany segment – assuming an average jackpot development. In addition, ZEAL continues to expect revenues to be in a range of EUR 110 million to EUR 120 million in fiscal year 2023. For EBITDA, the company expects a range of EUR 30 million to EUR 35 million. The online market leader again plans to invest significantly more in new customer acquisition than in the previous year and expects marketing expenses of between EUR 34 million and EUR 39 million.

“We are pleased with the strong start of the year and are proud of the milestones achieved and the positive development of our key figures. In particular, receiving the long-awaited permission to offer virtual slot games opens up new opportunities for us to further expand our business,” Jonas Mattsson, Chief Financial Officer of ZEAL Network SE, said.

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