EGR Power 50 2018 (full rankings)

Welcome to the EGR Power 50 2018. Now celebrating its 15th birthday, EGR’s annual rankings of the online gambling industry’s biggest operators has consistently provided one of the most comprehensive overviews of the sector and remains an effective tool for companies to benchmark against their competitors.

And if M&A was the key theme of 2016 and 2017, then this year’s motif was undoubtedly regulation and social responsibility. Many of the leading online gambling markets right across the globe  have undergone a period of significant upheaval in recent months. Take the UK as an example. Since last year’s Power 50 was published, the world’s largest regulated market has seen the regulator flexing its muscles with substantial financial penalties, the announcement of a new wave of tax rises, and the emergence of what many believe is a long overdue emphasis on the importance of responsible gambling.

Yet that is only the tip of the iceberg. Over in Italy, the country’s populist coalition government, which includes the far-right Lega and the anti-establishment Eurosceptic Five Star Movement, sent shockwaves through the sector a few months ago by pledging to introduce a blanket ban on gambling advertising and sponsorship. Meanwhile, just as this year’s Power 50 was going to print it was announced a similar, although not quite as restrictive, ad ban would be introduced in Belgium too.

It’s clearly not been the easiest 12 months to have been involved in the online gaming industry. Yet it’s not all bad news. This year will also go down in history for being the year when the US finally ditched PASPA and opened up the market for regulated sports betting on a state-by-state basis. This trend has had little impact on this year’s Power 50, with a few notable exceptions, but the vast majority of operators listed in the following pages are already jostling for position across the pond.

So what are the most visible changes to the 2018 edition of the Power 50? Consolidation, which in many ways is the natural consequence of increasing regulatory changes and shrinking margins, is once again the key driver behind changes in the top 10, with GVC Holdings’ position boosted by its deal with Ladbrokes Coral (LCL) and likewise The Stars Group following its acquisition of Sky Betting & Gaming (SBG) the catalyst here. Readers will also note the inclusion once again of German betting giant Tipico which provided its key financial numbers exclusively for the Power 50.

Finally, EGR has kept with its tried and tested formula of judging each company by its international reach (whereby regulated markets are given a higher weight than grey and black markets), strategy and impact, market influence and leadership, and financial prowess. For the latter criteria, the Power 50 relies heavily on the work and expertise of accountancy heavyweight BDO which helps EGR crunch the most important numbers.

01: Bet365 (01)

Not many companies walk the walk quite like bet365. The operator is notoriously media-shy, but its power and influence are unparalleled in the online gaming industry. Just ask New York casino owner Empire Resorts, which recently announced it had partnered with bet365 for sports betting in the state and promptly saw its share price increase by 70%.

The Stoke-headquartered firm was described by Eilers & Krejcik Gaming as the “800lb gorilla in the room” in the US market, and the operator has already laid down the groundwork for entry into at least two states. So what can US customers expect? Quite simply the slickest mobile product on the market with an enormous array of betting markets and live streaming options.

If recent years have been about innovating with features like Quick Bet, Auto Cash Out and Edit Bet, 2018 appears to have been about making these products lightning fast and intuitive to use. That said, the operator was still one of the first to come out with an automated Bet Builder product.

Bet365 has topped this list for nine consecutive years but continues to show no signs of slowing down after another year of hugely impressive growth from an already massive base. Critics might point to some grey market growth there, which BDO factors into its financial score, but even in the fiercely competitive UK betting market bet365 is dominant. In fact, Oddschecker had to start leaving the operator out of its click-share graphs because it was so far ahead of other operators that it was literally off the charts with a normal x-axis.

The trend is replicated around the world, with bet365 also one of the largest betting operators in Italy, while the company has big plans for Sweden with a reported 26% rise in its marketing spend for the country ahead of re-regulation next year. Even the challenging market Down Under is slowly being conquered.

In a way it’s a shame bet365 is so media-shy, because it’s got a phenomenal story to tell. Here’s a company that has built a world-leading technology business from scratch and has shaped an entire industry. One major European land-based bookmaker in the midst of overhauling its online business told his team recently: “Just build me bet365.” If only it were that easy.

02: GVC Holdings (03)

If any company has come seriously close to toppling bet365’s perpetual dominance at the top of the EGR Power 50 it is GVC Holdings. Yet while GVC may well be the biggest listed online-led operator, just as it claims, the operator fell just short of supplanting bet365 as the largest online gambling company in the world this time around.

It has been another transformational 12 months for a company which has simultaneously leapfrogged Paddy Power Betfair into second place and fended off competition from The Stars Group. Neither of these achievements should be taken lightly. And GVC was recently rewarded for its efforts with a hat-trick of wins at the EGR Operator Awards 2018, taking home trophies for Casino Operator, Poker Operator and the coveted Operator of the Year award.

But it’s hardly surprising the firm is being lavished with praise. Its ambitious deal to acquire bookmaking giant Ladbrokes Coral for up to £4bn propelled the enlarged GVC group on to the FTSE100 index and enabled the company to gain a stronger foothold in the UK. The takeover came just a few months after it completed its bwin.party transaction, and as one judge at the EGR Awards put it: “To complete one merger in this industry is bold, to take on two is truly brave and that GVC have managed to pull it off and emerge with all brands stronger as a result is a truly impressive achievement.”

The operator’s online division continues to benefit from the synergies being delivered from what appears to be another successful integration, and GVC’s recent Q3 trading update shows its digital arm is in good health with revenues increasing 29% in constant currency. The Ladbrokes and Coral brands both seem to be enjoying life as part of the GVC family too after posting quarterly double-digit growth year-on-year.

Add to this GVC’s monumental deal with MGM to take on the nascent US sports betting market and all the ingredients are there for the operator to have yet another successful year.
So does GVC have any tricks up its sleeve to replace bet365 at the top of the egaming pyramid in 2019? Watch this space.

03: The Stars Group (04)

In just about every conference call since taking over the top job at The Stars Group (TSG), CEO Rafi Ashkenazi has spoken about his ambition to turn the company into the world’s favourite online gaming destination, and judging by this year’s rankings, TSG isn’t far away from achieving that goal. It was a truly transformational year for the company, as it wrapped up more than $5bn in acquisitions, including the $4.7bn deal for Sky Betting & Gaming (SBG). In Q3, group revenues including SBG and BetEasy (formerly CrownBet) were $572m, an increase of 74%.

But the deal-making itself was arguably the easy part, and now the real work begins as TSG starts its transformation from a poker company into a multi-vertical powerhouse.

The rise of GVC and its deal-happy approach may have created the illusion that integrations are a cinch, but it wasn’t so long ago that bwin.party and Paddy Power Betfair were hamstrung by major projects.

Indeed, there seems to be some concern that TSG ‘bought high’ on SBG, with the Leeds-based firm reporting a 31% decline in profits for the third quarter of 2018 and a 5% decline in sportsbook revenues. Adverse football results were blamed for the downturn, but even the 16% rise in gaming revenues is a long way from the 37% growth seen across the business in FY17. “Stars has learnt the hard way that sports betting is materially more volatile than gaming,” said Regulus Partners analyst Paul Leyland.

The focus on betting, however, obscures the inexorable rise of the PokerStars Casino machine, which grew 29% year-on-year to $108m in Q3. Poker also continues to show signs of growth thanks to the ground-breaking rewards programme and shared liquidity in key European markets. Looking forward to 2019, TSG, like many others, is pinning its colours to the US sports betting mast. The firm says it will leverage SBG’s unique experience of media partnerships to gain a foothold in the US.

If this time next year TSG has added ESPNBet to its portfolio of brands, Rafi Ashkenazi may come close to achieving his wish.

04: Paddy Power Betfair (02)

A lot can change in a year. The 2017 entry for Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) focused on stagnating revenues amid the thankless task of a major platform integration, with CEO Breon Corcoran joking: “If we’d have known how difficult it was going to be, we’d have put it off for even longer.” One year on, Corcoran is leading a FinTech company, Paddy Power has returned to growth, and PPB is fighting for market share in the US betting market via its shiny new DFS brand, FanDuel.

Indeed, although PPB has slipped down one spot in the Power 50 rankings, the future looks a lot brighter than it did a year ago, starting with the US. It is the second largest betting brand in New Jersey and has secured access to a multitude of other states, while proving that sports betting is not cannibalising its $100m+ in annual DFS revenues.

Elsewhere, PPB reported a 15% rise in Q3 online revenues to £248m, buoyed by a 26% rise in gaming revenues and an 11% rise in sports revenues, in a period when several other major operators struggled. The gaming uplift, in particular, will please Group CEO Peter Jackson after the vertical frustrated his predecessor for so long.

However, it has not all been plain sailing for the London-listed giant. In October it was hit with a £2.2m penalty package after a Gambling Commission investigation found it had failed to prevent “significant amounts of stolen money” being gambled via the exchange. The firm said it had made “considerable learnings from the case” and invested in improving its AML and responsible gambling processes.

The other trouble spot continued to be the Betfair Exchange, which continued several stagnant quarters, including 1% growth for Q3 despite benefiting from the latter half of the World Cup, and a soft comparative period in 2017 where revenues were down 5%. Management pointed to continued fierce competition for racing customers from the likes of bet365 which uses the sport almost as an acquisition and retention tool rather than a revenue generator. Instead, the firm will look to international markets to help return its flagship product to former glory.

05: Kindred Group (06)

Kindred Group continues to display an impressive tenacity for delivering growth consistently ahead of the wider market average – the result being that this year the firm has cracked the top five of the Power 50 after narrowly missing out in 2017.

This was arguably long overdue. A cursory glance at Kindred’s historical annual gross winnings revenue shows just how much it has kicked on in recent years, with the size of the business more than doubling since 2015. And such impressive growth was demonstrated once again in Kindred’s recent Q3 financial results, with a 22% year-on-year revenue increase on a constant currency basis to £230.7m, while EBITDA was also up 24% compared to Q3 2017.

On a product basis, this growth was coming from nearly all areas of the business, although sports betting was the standout performer with 30% year-on-year growth. One area for concern, however, could be the Nordics. Growth in the region fell from 20% year-on-year in Q3 2017 to just 3% in the same period this year, and although it remains a vital part of Kindred’s DNA, it only accounted for 34% of the business in the quarter.

Competition is now heating up in Sweden ahead of re-regulation, and things are only going to get more difficult for Kindred. However, the Stockholm-listed business still retains a strong position in what is traditionally seen as its home turf and it is a formidable force in markets such as France, the UK and the Netherlands, while it has already made early inroads into the US.

With 11 brands now in its portfolio, the operator is clearly a very different beast to what it was only a couple of years ago under the Unibet Group moniker. Yet Kindred has had a much quieter year on the M&A front, having not added to the business since its £175m acquisition of 32Red back in June 2017. Instead, the operator has focused on organic growth and increased its number of brands by launching a new Romania-facing product in the form of Vlad Casino.

Meanwhile, the launch of an in-house racing platform, a personalised recommendations engine and a Facebook Messenger chatbot shows Kindred hasn’t lost its innovative touch either.

06: William Hill (08)

The wave of industry consolidation at the top of the Power 50 over the past few years was always notable by the absence of UK bookmaker William Hill. Indeed, for a company that was once one of the early market pacesetters in the online space, Hills could only look on as many of its rivals consolidated, built scale and overtook the operator in the rankings.

But just as this year’s Power 50 was being compiled, the London-listed operator announced it had swooped in to acquire Mr Green owner MRG Group as part of a £242m deal. The acquisition, while it has been recommended by the MRG board to shareholders, has yet to be completed and thus is not included as part of Hills’ Power 50 entry. However, the deal will provide William Hill with some much-needed international diversification, albeit predominantly from European grey markets, and the company has said it will use MRG’s Malta office to spearhead its international strategy following Brexit.

Given the level of ongoing regulatory pressure it’s feeling in the UK market at the minute, it was really only a matter of time before Hills got in on the M&A action. It’s also not the only bit of wheeling and dealing the firm has completed in 2018, having finally rid itself of the distraction of its Australian business after offloading it to CrownBet for £169m back in March.

Substantial growth though has proven rather elusive for William Hill Online – net revenue was up just 4% year to date in its last trading update – but it has been making a concerted effort to move towards a more mass-market approach and improvements to its digital proposition are there for all to see. New digital chief Ulrik Bengtsson, who no doubt played a key role in the MRG deal given his Scandinavian roots at Betsson, has been busy assembling a new senior online team to help Hills fulfil its ambitions.

However, it’s the US market where arguably the biggest opportunity lies for William Hill over the next few years. And the operator is already a market leader across the pond with a growing Nevada business and a deal with casino operator Eldorado Resorts giving it access to 13 new states.

07: Tipico (N/A)

For a company that is so high up in the EGR Power 50 rankings it is perhaps a bit surprising how little is actually known about the ins and outs of the Tipico business. The Germany-facing betting operator has had a period of absence from EGR’s annual rankings over the past couple of years as the firm had opted not to share its financial figures with our partners at BDO. EGR had also been unable to obtain any significant insight into the actual size of the operation to compensate.

This year is a different story, however, and the operator has opened up its books exclusively for the Power 50. And although the figures must remain confidential, Tipico more than deserves its high position in the Power 50 after its numbers revealed a business that is both substantial in size and growing stronger year-on-year than many of its competitors. In 2018, it claims to have increased its market share 50% in Germany (online & retail), with digital accounting for more than 60% of the business. This suggests the group has benefitted from its decision to sell large parts of the business to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners back in 2016.

Tipico, which has been headquartered in Malta since 2004, is also a formidable force on the German and Austrian high streets with more than 1,000 shops open to sports betting customers. And like its counterparts in the UK, the operator has attempted to leverage its retail footprint by offering an omni-channel experience to customers. This includes the Tipico Card which customers can use online, in its shops and via betting terminals, allowing them to view their account history and current balance.

Elsewhere, in October the company announced the launch of a new payment method to enable customers to deposit and withdraw in supermarket and retail stores.

It has also been a busy year for the company on the marketing front, having unveiled a new ad campaign fronted by brand ambassador and former German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, as well as extending its sponsorship of the Austrian Bundesliga for another two seasons. Much of its marketing prowess is being driven by its Tipico Services arm in Gibraltar, which provides services including media buying, SEO expertise and strategic sponsorship partnerships.

08: 888 Holdings (10)

The rise up the list for 888 is more a function of consolidating rivals rather than any great expansion, as the operator has struggled with the ever-tightening UK regulatory environment. The operator reported an 18% decline in UK revenues for H1 2018, as the firm felt the pinch from responsible gambling measures and fierce competition.

However, 888 says it has turned the corner, reporting “very positive KPIs in the UK” and predicting it will start regaining market share as other firms start implementing their own RG measures. As part of its transition to a new business model, the firm is pivoting to a more “mass-market proposition”. Group CEO Itai Frieberger said: “That’s a decision we, as an operator owning our technology can make. We can try new models and we believe that those will bring positive returns in the UK going forward.”

On that note, he said 888 is also rolling out some major product upgrades in the near future, with its AI-powered casino platform, Orbit, to be launched across a number of major regulated markets. Group COO Itai Pazner said the platform was vital to the recreational pivot, adding: “[Orbit] gives us the brains in the back-end and flexibility to do clever segmentation and add things to the platform that can add value.”

Elsewhere, 888 plans to introduce new features to 888sport and launch ‘Poker 8’, its “next generation poker platform”.

Away from the UK market, things look more positive for the operator as well, with H1 revenues from regulated markets excluding the UK up some 30%, driven by Spain and Italy.

But perhaps the biggest opportunity comes in the US, where 888 now operates poker, casino and sports in New Jersey. 888 recently inked the first partnership in the US between an online operator and an NFL team thanks to its deal with the New York Jets that sees 888 promoted at Jets home games and on the official team site.

In a telling move about the firm’s future, 888 relocated its senior vice-president and head of commercial development, Yaniv Sherman, to New Jersey to spearhead the operator’s expansion in the US.

09: Betsson Group (09)

It’s been a strange couple of years for Betsson. While the operator has watched Nordic rivals Kindred and LeoVegas going great guns with consistent double-digit growth, Betsson has been in something of a transitional period. In short, it’s a business that was never in perpetual decline, but it was hardly firing on all cylinders either.

It’s in this context why group chief exec Pontus Lindwall, who replaced former CEO Ulrik Bengtsson following his departure last year, initiated its “back on track” company strategy. This masterplan to boost the Stockholm-listed operator’s fortunes includes improving products and performance, turning around recent growth trends in its core markets, and improving efficiencies. And Betsson’s recent numbers would suggest this strategy could well be starting to pay off.

In Q3 2018 the operator reported a 21% year-on-year increase in group revenue to SEK1.4bn (approximately £120m), with organic growth of 16%, driven by 22% growth in casino and 23% growth in sports betting. Profits were also strong, with EBITDA up 49% year-on-year on an improved margin of 29.7%. Meanwhile, for the nine-month period to 30 September, Betsson’s revenues were up 15% and EBITDA up 26%.

Betsson said the growth was down to the operator meeting its group strategy targets. This includes technology improvements, such as the roll-out of its OBG platform on mobile across its portfolio of brands, and a focus on Betsson’s core markets, with growth from the Nordics up 19% year-on-year. And the financial markets reacted positively to the company’s performance in the quarter with its share price rising from SEK66.5 to SEK80.85 in the space of a few days – although this has since fallen slightly at the time of writing.

Taking all the above into consideration, Betsson Group maintains its ninth place position in this year’s EGR Power 50, and its recent return to form means there is a fair bit of daylight between itself and LeoVegas.

That said, if Betsson seriously is “back on track” and fulfils the promise it has shown in stages this year, then there is no reason it can’t obtain a higher place in 2019.

10: LeoVegas Group (14)

As the biggest riser in the Power 50 last year, LeoVegas has further solidified its place among egaming’s elite with a prestigious top-10 position in the list for the first time. What makes this feat even more remarkable is just how far the Stockholm-headquartered firm was down the rankings just two years ago in 31st position. And in that short period of time LeoVegas has achieved a plethora of milestones that go some way to explaining how it’s achieved its meteoric rise.

Back in 2016 LeoVegas became a publicly listed company, less than five years after it was founded, and after making its debut on the Nasdaq Stockholm its valuation has since passed the $1bn mark. In this time LeoVegas has also diversified its product offering into additional verticals with a Kambi-powered sportsbook, expanded its reach into new gaming territories and completed its first round of acquisitions.

One of its biggest deals to date came earlier this year when the operator acquired online casino firm Intellectual Property & Software Limited (IPS), 40th in the Power 50 last year, for £65m. The all-cash transaction has helped strengthen LeoVegas’ position in the UK market, adding to the Royal Panda business it acquired late last year for €60m. LeoVegas has also unveiled a range of new UK-facing brands in recent months, including legs11.co.uk and BetUK.

However, the operator’s UK business has hardly been achieving its full potential. According to LeoVegas’ Q3 report, organic growth for LeoVegas.com in the market was down 32%, while Royal Panda and Rocket X also reported lower revenue from the UK. The slowdown was blamed on the “enormous work” undertaken with regards to compliance, although the company believes this will enable its UK-facing operations to deliver more sustainable growth in the long term. LeoVegas’ commitment to responsible gambling was demonstrated this year after spinning out its LeoSafePlay arm into an entirely new business unit.

This should all leave LeoVegas well placed to grow the business in what is now its second biggest market and given overall Q3 group revenue increased 41% year-on-year to €78.6m, it will likely remain a key player in next year’s EGR Power 50.

11. JPJ Group (11)

As JPJ’s unchanged position in the Power 50 suggests, it’s been a year of steady growth for the bingo-led firm. The most recent results showed an 8% rise in Q3 revenues to £77.8m, as dot.com growth from Vera&John helped offset a slight decline from its Jackpotjoy brand in the UK. JPJ, like the rest of the industry, has taken a hit in the UK from the increasing scrutiny around VIP players, and set a goal this year to get less than half of its revenues from the UK over the long term. The big upside could instead come from Spain where the Botemania brand is going from strength to strength. Elsewhere, the London-listed operator sold off its social gaming business for more than £18m, in an effort to focus on its “core activity” of real-money gaming.

12. BetVictor (12)

BetVictor has built a reputation as a technology-first operator, not afraid to think for itself and go against the grain where necessary. It’s exemplified by the release of its in-house BetBuilder product which earned BetVictor an EGR award for Best In-house Product. The Gibraltar firm made the product the centre of its World Cup marketing campaign, generating plenty of buzz as punters competed to land the highest-priced BetBuilder wager. The firm has also taken a lead on minimum bet guarantees, with its offer applying to each-way bets and all races in the UK and Ireland, regardless of grade. The operator said it had seen an influx of “bad business” from the offer, including bots and arbers, but remained committed to offering fair prices to genuine customers.

13. Cherry Group (16)

Despite facing a turbulent year, Cherry Group has crept into the top 15 of this year’s rankings. In October 2017, the Swedish operator reshuffled its online senior management team in the face of revised full-year revenues that were expected to drop 12% to SEK2.2bn (£196.6m) on ComeOn integration issues. The operator’s luck turned in Q1 2018 as it outperformed revenue expectations and welcomed its new online CEO: former Mr Green CMO Lahcene Merzoug. The new chief exec has been the driver behind ComeOn’s prolific multi-brand strategy, overseeing the launch of two Pay N Play Swedish brands, a similar Finnish product and, most recently, a Polish sportsbook called PZBuk. The operator is stealing a march in Sweden and gained a chunk of no-registration casino market share, having most recently reported Q3 revenues of SEK2.3bn (£199.4m), up 46% year-on-year. Cherry is now eyeing the US market and recently acquired a New Jersey-based affiliate domain.

14. Hong Kong Jockey Club (13)

The Hong Kong Jockey (HKJC) always feels like one of the odd ones out among the companies towards the top of the Power 50 rankings given its vastly different business model, but the numbers reported by the Asian betting heavyweight are simply staggering. According to revenues provided by HKJC for the Power 50, annual online net gaming revenue increased from HK$25.4bn (£2.5bn) to HK$28.7bn (£2.9bn) this year, with the firm contributing HK$18.2bn (£1.8bn) in gaming taxes. The Club’s comingling deals have formed a key part of its wider strategy, with 34 partners worldwide and the UK its fastest growing sector. The HKJC will launch a new Ascot World Pool for Royal Ascot in partnership with Ascot and Totepool in 2019.

15. Fortuna Entertainment Group (21)

Fortuna Entertainment Group (FEG) has long been one of the biggest operators in Central and Eastern Europe and has solidified its leading position even further over the last 12 months. In 2017 the company reported an 87.4% year-on-year increase in full-year gross win to €305.4m, and these numbers continued into 2018 with gross win in Q1 up 157.6% to €110m with strong betting growth in its core markets and online gaming growth in the Czech Republic. Last year FEG bought Hattrick Sports Group, as well as Fortbet’s Romanian entities which were licensing the Fortuna brand, and these acquisitions seem to be bearing fruit, while CEO Per Widerström is on the record as saying the operator is still looking for new M&A opportunities.

16. Pinnacle (19)

The biggest news for Pinnacle in 2018 was the end of its multi-year effort to obtain a UK licence. Some questioned whether it simply had too much grey market revenue, but the firm said it preferred to focus its efforts on its nascent B2B business and possible US expansion. To date, only the B2B business has shown a return, thanks to a deal to supply esports pricing to Asian BGE. The US plans still remain something of a mystery, with Pinnacle’s history of serving the US in the past perhaps a black mark on its name. The operator’s core betting and casino business continued to show growth, despite whispers of lower limits on some US sports. That said, Pinnacle remains the gold standard model for any high-volume, low-margin operators, and its closing price is still the standard by which sports bettors are measured against.

17. Playtech B2C (N/A)

Playtech endured a difficult year as the London-listed supplier issued two profit warnings due to an influx of aggressively priced competitors and a crackdown on gambling syndicates in its core Asian market of Malaysia. Headwinds in the Far East have since stabilised, and the technology giant consolidated its B2C business in regulated European markets with the €846m acquisition of Italian betting giant Snaitech. This in combination with Playtech’s other B2C assets propels the company into the top 20. Playtech is deep in discussions with News UK as a technology partner on Sun Bingo and perhaps Sun Bets, should the sportsbook be brought back to life. Playtech faced a backlash from investors and shareholders this year over a 78% pay increase for CEO Mor Weizer, while investor Jason Ader built a $100m position in the firm and could press for a sale of the company next year. Adjusted EBITDA is set to hit €320m-€360m for 2018.

18. Betclic Group (27)

Betclic Group, which includes Betclic, Everest, Expekt and bet-at-home, is one of the biggest risers in this year’s Power 50 list after what was a formidable year for the Bordeaux-headquartered company financially with both revenue and EBIDTA showing impressive growth. The company no doubt benefited from the part-inclusion of the World Cup, but its flagship market, France, has also gone from being the black sheep of the European regulated gambling markets to one of the fast growing. According to the regulator, revenue generated in the market last year increased 18% year-on-year to €962m, while in Q3 2018 it was up 21%. Away from the French market, Betclic has also been busy ramping up its headcount for the company’s Bordeaux HQ and extending its reach into new markets such as Poland.

19. Lottoland (18)

Since its inception in 2013, the leading bet-on-lotteries operator has handed out close to $1bn in prizes, including a Guinness World Record €90m pay-out this summer to a cleaner from Berlin. Moreover, in August, the Gibraltar-based outfit, which employs 350 people, surpassed eight million customers – up from five million at the beginning of 2017. In fact, the userbase stood at one million in 2015, underlining Lottoland’s aggressive customer acquisition drive over a relatively short space of time. Yet it hasn’t been all champagne and caviar of late; a ban on UK residents betting on the outcome of non-UK EuroMillions draws came into force last April, while in June, Australia outlawed betting on lotteries. The prohibition begins in January 2019. On a more positive note, Lottoland has confirmed it is in discussions regarding a potential consortium bid to take over operation of the UK’s National Lottery when the current licence expires in 2023.

20. Rank Group (17)

2018 feels like something of a transitional year for Rank Group and its 2017-18 financial performance was something of a mixed bag. The firm’s retail business had a tough ride and although UK digital revenue increased 9.9%, digital operating profit fell by £1.8m year-on-year to £20.9m, while its new Luda brand has still yet to take off. The Maidenhead-headquartered operator has also seen a raft of high-level personnel changes, most notably the departure of CEO Henry Birch who left the Mecca Bingo owner earlier this year to join online retailer Shop Direct. Birch was later replaced by John O’Reilly who knows the UK gambling sector better than most after more than 25 years’ experience in the market, and he has been busy building his own senior team with a new CFO, CIO and chief transformation officer. On paper, O’Reilly should be the right man to help Rank fulfil its significant omni-channel potential.

21. Betway (20)

Betway continued its all-out marketing blitz in 2018, with sponsorships of racing, snooker, football and esports a clear priority, along with a £100m war chest earmarked for international expansion. However despite the massive ad spend, Betway CEO Anthony Werkman was adamant the operator turned a profit in 2017, telling EGR: “The business is exceeding our original forecasts, and we have seen revenues increase five-fold over the last three years. I’m glad to say that the business in 2017 was profitable and we will continue to re-invest as we gain traction in a number of new and existing markets across the globe.”

22. Mr Green (29)

Mr Green has shuffled up the ranks once again on a heavy product focus and a handful of strategic acquisitions which contributed to 51% revenue growth in Q3 to SEK445.2m (£37.9m). The freshly rebranded group this year renewed its financial targets for 2020, raising revenue expectations by 5%. Much of the group’s focus has been on product and its unique 3D-rendered live casino product and express registration function have attributed a great deal to profit growth. A major group rebrand to MRG has helped the Swedish company to establish a more mature and varied brand image as it swooped in this year to acquire Redbet parent company Evoke Gaming and Baltics-facing sportsbook 11.lv. William Hill acquired the operator in October and is expected to operate its Malta hub out of MRG’s headquarters.

23. Tombola (25)

Tombola has had another successful year and thus climbs up two places in the 2018 rankings as the bingo operator continues to initiate its five-year strategy to double turnover. This company game plan has led to a strong financial performance according to confidential numbers seen for the Power 50, while its most recent published accounts with Companies House revealed turnover for the 12 months ended 30 April 2017 was up 24% to £73.7m. The privately owned company, which won Bingo Operator and Marketing Campaign at this year’s EGR Operator Awards, recently moved into a new headquarters in Sunderland to aid its growth plans, while expansion into new regulated markets, including Sweden, is also on the cards in the next few months.

24. SBOBET (15)

While SBOBET is relatively unknown in the UK since announcing its departure from the market in 2014 following the introduction of the 15% PoC tax, it is in the Far East where the bookmaking powerhouse is a firmly established brand. However, the Celton Manx-powered operator, which specialises in high-volume, low-margin Asian Handicap markets, made inroads into Germany this summer by inking a deal to become the official betting partner in Asia of German soccer giants Borussia Dortmund. As part of the deal, which runs for the 2018-19 season, SBOBET is promoted across the club’s digital channels and it’s an opportunity for the bookmaker to tap into the growing interest in the Bundesliga across Asia.

25. 12BET (23)

Asia powerhouse 12BET has continued its strategy of finding niche, but highly lucrative, sponsorship opportunities, which tie in with the company’s aim of boosting its brand prowess in its core markets. Since last year’s rankings were released, the TGP Europe-powered operator has secured, for example, a betting partnership deal with the YONEX All England Badminton Championships, which has an extensive TV audience in Asia, adding to the sponsorship of the International Table Tennis Federation World Cup. Earlier this year, 12BET also signed up to use Optimove’s marketing platform in a bid to improve the operator’s customer conversions and retention rates.

26. Lottomatica (24)

While the impending blanket advertising ban is the perpetual grey cloud that currently hangs over Italy, the country’s online gambling market has witnessed strong growth in 2018 and local brand Lottomatica continues to be one of the market leaders. In fact, Lottomatica could well stand to be one of the biggest benefactors of the ban given its history in the market and retail legacy – a luxury that foreign operators simply won’t have. Boutique research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming estimates the operator was the fourth largest brand in the overall online market last year, while it also performs particularly well in the casino vertical.

27. Tabcorp (32)

It’s now almost a year since the A$11bn mega-merger was finally completed between Melbourne-based Tabcorp and rival Tatts Group, creating a gambling powerhouse to compete more effectively with foreign brands. Full-year earnings announced in August showed annual revenue for the enlarged business had increased 71% to A$3.8bn, up from A$2.2bn last year due, in part, to the World Cup. Yet there have been bumps in the road, notably the $90.5m Tabcorp had to pay News UK to exit the doomed Sun Bets venture in the UK earlier this year. Furthermore, there are headwinds in Australia, including new PoC tax regimes and a ban introduced last March on gambling advertising during the daytime (racing excluded).

28. Gaming Innovation Group (36)

The past year has been 12 months of revision for GiG. Having launched the final piece of its B2B puzzle with a game development arm, the Oslo Exchange-listed operator has renewed its B2C focus on the best performing brands. Q2 revenues rose 20% year-on-year to €24.2m as GiG sought to increase revenues and reduce operation costs across its spate of brands. Sweden-facing SuperLenny was shuttered and relaunched as an affiliate site and Thrills as a Pay N Play product in the Nordics. At the time Group CEO Robin Reed said GiG would shake up the no-registration space with much improved UX/UI to its competitors. Every couple of years or so the group reshuffles its senior management to encourage fresh thinking and a new focus.

29. DraftKings (N/A)

DraftKings enters the list for the first time this year partly on the strength of its circa $250m DFS revenues, but also on the sudden power it wields in the US betting market. DraftKings was first to market in New Jersey to the surprise of just about everyone, including DraftKings CEO Jason Robins, and has made it count. In October the firm generated more than half of all online sports betting revenues in New Jersey, at close to $5m. The operator has also hired a host of Vegas bookmaking veterans as it starts building up a retail estate to go alongside its digital business.

30. Stride Gaming (22)

Stride Gaming’s Daub Alderney subsidiary was on the receiving end of a £7.1m fine from the UK Gambling Commission in November. Stride had originally set aside £4m for the financial penalty, but a UKGC regulatory panel decided that £7.1m was more reflective of the bingo operator’s anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings. Before the fine, Stride had already pledged to pivot towards an international growth plan due to ever-growing regulatory pressure in the UK, and that now seems increasingly likely. Richard Sager was appointed head of international development in April to drive the international growth of Stride’s B2C business across brands including Magical Vegas and Kitty Bingo.

31. SKS365 Group (26)

Malta-headquartered SKS365, owner of planetwin365, made its debut in the Power 50 last year and the group has a presence in markets such as Spain and Italy. However, it is the latter where the operator has made the biggest splash and Eilers & Krejcik Gaming estimates SKS365 had a 6% share of the Italian online gaming market in 2017, with the operator jostling with bet365 to be number one in online sports betting on a month-by-month basis.

32. Paf (35)

Paf makes a strong case for being one of the most responsible operators in the industry given the contributions it makes to good causes and non-profit associations. The Åland-basd operator took it a step further this year with the launch of the “first-of-its-kind” annual lost limit in September, which is currently set at SEK300,000 per year. However, this social responsibility focus doesn’t seem to impede the company’s ability to grow too much, with full-year operating profit increasing 75% to €27.6m in 2017.

33. Zeal Network (34)

Zeal Network always seems to play second fiddle to Lottoland when the topic of online lotteries emerge, but the London-based operator continues to be a major player in the lottery space. The company has brought to market a range of innovative in-house products this year, including Instant Games and Raffld, and its latest quarterly results revealed a 21% increase in statutory revenue to €111.2m (up 8% on a normalised basis). Zeal also recently acquired online lottery brokerage firm Lotto24 in a bid to “de-risk its business model” in the German lottery betting market.

34. Casumo (30)

Since its inception in 2012, Casumo has won plaudits across the online casino sector for its unique focus on gamifying the customer experience, including its use of social gaming features such as player achievements and leaderboards. And the company caught the industry’s attention once again earlier this year when it announced plans to diversify into the sports betting sphere and take aim at casual bettors with a new Kambi-powered sportsbook. The product had yet to be launched at the time of writing but if Casumo can continue its track record in gaming into sports betting, then it will be in a strong position to climb the rankings next year.

35. Sisal (39)

While Italian rival Snaitech’s year has largely been defined by its acquisition by B2B giant Playtech, Sisal has had no such distractions. The Milan-based operator, which reported full-year online gaming revenue of €72.4m in 2017, had another strong 12 months this year, culminating in the firm winning Socially Responsible Operator and Operator of the Year at the EGR Italy Awards in October. The Italian government’s blanket ad ban prevents Sisal from obtaining a higher position in this year’s Power 50.

36. Gamesys (31)

Gamesys falls a few spots this year given the predominantly B2B flavour of the business, despite steady growth from its Virgin, Caesars, Monopoly and Heart brands. However, the London-based Gamesys is now firmly within the top-10 UK online casino operators, according to analyst firm Regulus Partners and, more recently, the company was preparing to launch its long-awaited sportsbook under the Virgin moniker. Elsewhere, Gamesys began to move apart from JPJ Group, after receiving the final earn-out payment from JPJ for the acquisition of Jackpotjoy and Botemania. Gamesys still provides content for JPJ’s Vera&John brand.

37. Asian BGE (28)

Asian BGE, the company behind Dafabet, has arguably had a much busier year than many of its Asia-facing competitors that are included in this year’s Power 50. The firm’s flagship brand completed its “biggest ever” sponsorship deal to continue as the front-of-shirt sponsor of Scottish Premiership champions Celtic for a further five years. However, the company also closed its UK-facing online casino site earlier this year, although its sports betting product has remained available for customers.

38. Svenska Spel (41)

The former monopoly operator is currently preparing for arguably the biggest shake-up in its history with the Swedish gambling market set to re-regulate in January and welcome foreign operators. As part of this preparation, Svenska Spel announced in October its back-end platform was to undergo a major overhaul – described by the company as its largest IT project ever. How the company fares in this new environment remains to be seen but it’s safe to say Svenska Spel has more than its fair share of advantages to more than compete with an influx of newly licensed operators, not least with regards to the omni-channel opportunities.

39. Danske Spil (37)

Danske Spil drops two spots on the list this year as its overall financial score ticked down compared to last year. During 2018 the operator continued to take steps to modernise its offering, including the launch of an SBTech-powered sportsbook. Danske Spil CEO Niels Erik Folmann said the YouBet product was designed to regain customers from the likes of Unibet and bet365, with functions like cash-out and more comprehensive in-play markets.

40. Global Gaming (N/A)

The Malmo-based casino operator gained quick traction in Sweden last year by exclusively offering Trustly’s Pay N Play no-registration and fast-withdrawal function. Both have proved seismic innovations in the industry and have sparked a massive trend in the Nordics – and now the UK. Although the function has been extended to others, Global Gaming’s flagship Ninja Casino is growing its profits by approximately 60% year-on-year. In Q2 it recorded profits of SEK41m (£3.5m). Global Gaming went public on Nasdaq Stockholm’s First North exchange in October 2017 and has since seen its stock price rise 16%. In 2019 it will launch a sportsbook from Kambi and was recently granted an Estonian casino licence to offer the Pay N Play function to Estonian players.

41. 188BET (38)

Owned by Isle of Man-based Cube Limited, 188BET is the final operator on the 2018 Power 50 list that is largely focused on the Asian online betting market. A lack of access to the company’s financial rankings this year makes accurately assessing 188BET’s position in the market slightly difficult, and thus the company slips down a few places. The online bookmaker continues to invest in racing sponsorship to boost the UK side of the business.

42. Marathonbet (42)

Marathonbet has had a relatively quiet 12 months and EGR was unable to obtain financials. However, the operator has completed a number of sponsorship deals in recent months and circumstantial evidence suggests the operator’s low-margin strategy is paying dividends in the UK. Oddschecker click-share data also showed the firm was picking up significant market share around both the World Cup and this year’s Cheltenham Festival.

43. Intouch Games (33)

Mobile casino operator Intouch Games continues to keep a relatively low profile in the online gaming sector, but the West Midlands-based company clearly has lofty growth ambitions. Earlier this year, the firm revealed plans to increase its headcount by at least 150 team members, which the mFortune-owner said would help aid the operator’s expansion into new international markets. Intouch’s most recent filings with Companies House for the year ended 31 July 2017 showed the business recorded annual turnover of £46m and gross profit of £35m.

44. Coingaming Group (N/A)

Founded in 2014 and making its Power 50 debut, Coingaming Group is the only operator on this year’s list focused exclusively on the cryptocurrency space with a portfolio of bitcoin-led gaming brands such as Bitcasino.io and Sportsbet.io. The Tallinn-headquartered company has witnessed strong growth since its inception, with its headcount increasing from 30 to more than 200, while Coingaming told EGR earlier this year that its flagship Bitcasino.io brand recorded more than €30m in GGR in Q1 2018 alone. However, with much of the firm’s revenue derived from unregulated markets, Coingaming is prevented from obtaining a higher position.

45. Interwetten Group (46)

Malta-licensed Interwetten recorded a 14% year-on-year rise in net gaming revenue to €65.6m during the reporting period for this year’s rankings on the part-inclusion of the World Cup, while monthly active players were also up 18% to 45,000. However, the Germany-focused operator’s EBITDA and operating profit were both down year-on-year to €12.3m and €11m respectively following an increase in gaming taxes.

46. Betfred (45)

The most recent results for Betfred paint a picture of a business still being modernised, but the company will have some more resources to throw at the digital segment as it slowly extricates itself from the muddle that is pool betting. The operator sold off a 25% chunk in the Tote to Alizeti during the year and is expected to offload the rest over the coming months. Freed from that distraction, the firm is also looking at US opportunities to bolster growth.

47. Smarkets (48)

Smarkets made its debut in the Power 50 last year, and since then has completed a rebuild of its tech stack and a major overhaul to its product, including introducing live charts on top of a design makeover. The company is also beta testing SBK, its new sportsbook powered by the exchange’s pricing that boasts a simple, clean interface that’s been likened to Instagram, along with community-driven elements. In an attempt to improve the exchange’s ecosystem, Smarkets also recently introduced a new ‘Pro Tier’ 1% per-transaction commission structure. More than $3.1bn was traded on the exchange for FY17, yet profits slumped 52% to £6.6m, with its proprietary-trading subsidiary largely to blame.

48. Matchbook (50)

Matchbook climbs two spots this year following an all-out assault on growth over the past 12 months, signified by its offer, launched in May, of 0% commission for
the rest of the year for all new customers. The exchange operator reported triple-
digit increases in new customers sign-ups following the offer and has pledged to attract more recreational punters to the exchange next year with the introduction of “sportsbook concepts”.

49. Superbet (N/A)

Superbet makes its debut in the EGR Power 50 rankings after having previously been on last year’s ‘Ones to watch’ list. The operator continues to be a dominant force in Eastern Europe, particularly in Romania, and its online division has made significant strides recently following the launch of its new mobile sports betting product. However, Superbet could struggle to move much further up the rankings next year following its decision to scale back its Gibraltar operations and the loss of several senior staff members.

50. PlayOJO (N/A)

PlayOJO was only founded in 2016 but has already had a monumental rise since the online casino brand pledged to give customers a “fairer deal” with its no-wagering requirements and allowing users to limit their play. Led by former BGO chief exec Ohad Narkis, the company won the Rising Star category at the EGR Operator Awards in October 2017 and also appeared on Power 50’s ‘Ones to watch’ list last year. Since then, PlayOJO has significantly ramped up its marketing with a plethora of ad campaigns and sponsorship deals across the UK and Sweden.