Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) was €15.1m, compared to €15m of Q2 2018, corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 16% which was 17.2% during the same period of the previous year.

“We reiterate our ambitious financial targets to achieve €600m in revenue and EBITDA of €100m by 2021. We want to clarify that the targets are based primarily on organic growth, but also include revenue from potential future acquisitions,” said Gustaf Hagman, CEO of LeoVegas group.

The number of depositing customers increased by 8%, from 309,961 to 334,961 and the number of returning depositing custmers also grew by 12%, from 175,500 to 196,203, compared to Q2 2018. Earnings per share were €0.07 before and after dilution, with no change reported.

‘Balanced’ revenue mix

“Compared to a year ago, LeoVegas has a more balanced geographic revenue mix. This means that we are not as sensitive to challenges that may arise in a specific market, which in turn means that we have lower business risk in the Group,” said Mr Hagman. 

“This work is helping to create necessary economies of scale and is countering the effect of that we are paying more gambling taxes. As previously communicated, our marketing investments also decreased compared with the first quarter of the year,” Mr Hagman added. “A contributing factor to this is more restrained marketing in Sweden during the quarter. In addition, the postponement of a few campaigns from the second to the third quarter has affected costs and contributed to operating profit, which will have a reverse effect during the third quarter.”

Furthermore, LeoVegas obtained a gaming licence in Spain and two weeks after the company launched its business in Spain, according to the press release sent to BM.

“This shows the strength and speed of LeoVegas and further demonstrates that our experience from regulated markets benefits us. Spain is a step in our continued expansion, and we have also recently carried out launches in other Spanish-speaking countries, such as Chile and Peru, as well as in Brazil,” continued Mr Hagman.

Moreover, Sweden has now been a regulated market for more than six months, and the development is beginning to indicate what kind of market the group will have over the long term. Leovegas also launched GoGoCasino and Pixel.bet.

“The investments made in 2018 and efficiency improvement work carried out thus far in 2019 are beginning to generate returns in the form of greater scalability of operations,” concluded Mr Hagman. 

The post LeoVegas sees organic revenue growing 8% in Q2 first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

LeoVegas’ expansion strategy focuses on entering regulated markets or markets with plans to regulate. The company has gaming licences in Malta, where operations are made, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Ireland, the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, and now officially in Spain.

“We welcome Spain as our seventh locally regulated market. With LeoVegas’ position as King of Casino, we are now entering Spain with the ambition to take the mobile position and offer the ultimate gaming experience,” said Gustaf Hagman, LeoVegas Group CEO. “The Spanish online gambling market has a strong underlying growth with over 20% per year. The Spanish license is an important step in our continued expansion, in other Spanish-speaking countries, where we have already conducted test launches in Peru and Chile.”

LeoVegas’ data-driven approach to marketing is one of the keys to the successful establishment, the company believes. In connection with a launch, marketing will gradually increase, and every marketing channel and player values are analysed. Such analyses form the basis for continuously optimising and scaling up customer acquisition.

Furthermore, the Spanish online gaming market will be worth of approximately €1b in 2019, according to Half Two (H2) Gaming Capital, compared with the Swedish market, which is estimated to be worth approximately €1.4b. 

Nowadays, only 13% of all gaming in Spain is online, compared with 50% in Sweden. However, the Spanish online market is experiencing strong growth as more and more gaming is moving online. 

In fact, the most recent figures from the Spanish Gambling Authority show that the casino segment grew by 20% in Q1/2019, compared with the same period a year ago. The casino segment accounts for about 35% of the total online market in Spain. 

The Spanish government approved a five-per-cent cut in gross gaming revenue from 25% to 20%, which action has been raising high hopes for the global iGaming industry, attracting eyes to the country, according to reports.

LeoVegas submitted a licence application for casino and sports betting, eyeing to set foot in the Spanish market late last year. LeoVegas’ competitor Gaming Innovation Group Inc (GiG) also applied for an online B2C casino and sports betting licence in Spain earlier.

Today, Gaming Innovation Group Inc (GiG) has also been awarded licences by the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling in Spain (DGOJ) permitting the GiG to offer online casino and sports betting in Spain, according to a press statement.

EDITORIAL NOTE: The present story has been updated with information about LeoVegas’ competitor GiG’s licences received for the Spanish market too.

The post LeoVegas bags Spanish gaming licence first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.