German regulations hit Bet-at-home in Q1 as revenue dips to €30.5m

Betclic Everest-owned online operator Bet-at-home.com has announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2021, showing gross gaming revenue (GGR) of €30.5m, down 5.5% year-on-year.

Bet-at-home said that the reduction in revenue was due to transitional regulation brought into effect in the German market, which meant that operators may offer online casino only if they adhere to the future licensing conditions that will come into effect officially from 1 July.

The operator received its German sports betting licence in November 2020, and expects to secure its online casino licence in the jurisdiction later in 2021 after the final state approved the state treaty legalising igaming last week.

Bet-at-home’s GGR came from betting and gaming turnover of €515.2m, €139.0m of which came from sports betting, with the remainder coming from online gaming. The total gambled with Bet-at-home was down 24.0% from €677.8m in Q1 2020.

Marketing expenses stood at €7.4m for the period, up 12.1% from €6.6m in the previous year. The largest marketing expenses were advertising costs and bonuses, costing around €2.2m each, in addition to €1.5m in sponsorship costs and €1.6m in other advertising expenses.

Personnel expenses increased slightly compared to Q1 2020, at €5.0m compared to €4.9m, while other operating expenses were down at €4.7m compared to €5.2m, which the company said was in line with the decline in sales in Germany due to upcoming regulations.

After expenses, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) stood at €6.9m, down from €9.0m in the previous year.

This left the operator with a consolidated profit of €4.4m, down 24.1% from €5.8m.

Bet-at-Home’s management board said that from the current perspective, it expects a GGR of between €106m and €118m in the financial year 2021, with EBITDA of between €18m and €22m.

Original Article