EGR Power 50 2019: 11-20

11. BetVictor (12)

BetVictor climbs one spot this year, with the firm attributing its ongoing financial success to a focus on in-house product development. Revenues grew strongly in the judging period, and while Asian revenues are an important part of the business, BetVictor is one of the few private firms that has managed to carve itself out a niche in the UK in recent years. The operator has invested in marketing through a partnership with Harry Redknapp, as well as horseracing with new products like its racing Smart Cards that aim to stimulate bet placement. The Gibraltar-based operator also delved into non-league football with a two-year sponsorship deal with three divisions – the Isthmian League, the Northern Premier and the Southern League. On the tech front, BetVictor brought itself in line with the likes of Sky Bet by launching a new responsive website designed to unify the customer experience across both its mobile and desktop platforms.

12. ComeOn (13)

ComeOn is steadily closing in on a top 10 position in the Power 50 rankings, having been assigned the biggest growth score by BDO out of all companies in the top half. The Malta-based operator seems to have struck gold in the newly regulated Swedish gaming market where it is currently the biggest international operator as of Q3 2019 – third only to former monopolies ATG and Svenska Spel. To be ahead of the likes of Kindred and LeoVegas is some feat. Unlike many of its competitors, ComeOn operates a multi-brand strategy in Sweden where it currently has eight licensed brands such as Casinostugan and Pay N Play Snabbare. ComeOn’s strong position in the Nordics certainly leaves it well placed for the future but, having recently pulled out of the UK online gaming market, will arguably need to have a more international flavour and wider industry influence to achieve a top 10 position in 2020.

13. LeoVegas (10)

Online casino operator LeoVegas has been one of the fastest risers in the EGR Power 50 in recent years, soaring from 31st in 2016 to a top 10 position last year for the first time. However, with CEO Gustaf Hagman describing 2018 as the “most challenging” year in the company’s history, it was going to take something incredibly special for LeoVegas to make similar strides in the 2019 rankings. “We bumped into challenges we have not previously encountered and saw a slowdown in growth as a result,” Hagman said at the time. LeoVegas has been busy trying to rectify this situation throughout 2019. One way it’s done this is the launch of its algorithmic recommendation casino engine to improve some worrying player metrics (particularly in the UK), while Leo has also found growth in various dotcom markets to offset difficulties in some regulated ones. Tally this with its recent success in Sweden and there is no reason LeoVegas couldn’t make a return to the top 10 next year.

14. Fortuna Entertainment Group (15)

Fortuna Entertainment Group (FEG) climbs one place in this year’s rankings on the back of some of the strongest growth in the top 20 and will consider itself unlucky not to have achieved an even higher position. The Central and Eastern Europe-focused operator recorded online revenues of €191.7m for the 12 months ended 30 June 2019, up 27% year-on-year on the €150.4m reported the previous year, while group revenue was up 21.4%. Such strong growth was one of many reasons why the firm was ‘highly commended’ for the headline prize at the recent EGR Operator Awards, only just losing out to industry juggernaut GVC Holdings. FEG also seems primed for further growth. It is believed to be looking at additional markets complementary to its formidable position in CEE, while the company is also in the process of migrating its sportsbook onto Playtech’s omni-channel platform.

15. Betclic Everest Group (18)

The French online gambling market is rarely seen as one of Europe’s sexiest or most attractive given its punitive turnover tax regime, but for local online operators there is a tidy sum to be made from the sector’s current growth. Betclic Everest Group is one such company to benefit from this state of affairs, with the operator revealing 27% year-on-year 2018/19 net gaming revenue growth in figures provided exclusively to EGR. The Paris-headquartered firm’s EBITDA also increased 39% during the 12 months to 30 June 2019, which means it climbs three places in this year’s EGR Power 50 rankings. Reliance on a single market, however, prevents Betclic Everest Group from making any further gains up the list – although a top 15 spot is a significant feat for a business which seemed on the wane only a few years ago.

16. Pinnacle (16)

Pinnacle holds steady at number 16 in the rankings for the second straight year, with its substantial revenues downgraded somewhat due to its broadly unregulated nature. Of course, the bookmaker also gets a bump in the influence category, with Pinnacle still well regarded as a global pricing originator. Its influence around US sports pricing has only grown with the development of the regulated US market, and it’s understood the firm is still evaluating how best to take advantage of that opportunity. During 2019, Pinnacle also kicked off its Future View overhaul, with the firm unveiling a new front-end and planning to launch native sportsbook apps for iOS and Android, as well as a new and improved casino experience and a significantly enhanced esports betting portal. The Curaçao-based sportsbook continues to be a leading voice for esports betting, offering around 1,000 live betting events each month.

17. Hong Kong Jockey Club (14)

Figuring out the most appropriate position for Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) in the EGR Power 50 rankings is always a difficulttask given how different its business model and audience is to most other entrants. However, the sheer size of the Asian betting behemoth is something to behold. According to figures provided to EGR, HKJC recorded full-year online net gaming revenue of HK$29.9bn (approximately £3bn) for the 12 months ended 30 June 2019, up 4.2% from the $28.7bn it recorded the previous year. On a pure revenue basis, this would put HKJC towards the very top of the Power 50, but is marked down a few places due to its narrow geographic focus and wider industry impact. The ongoing political crisis in Hong Kong is likely a worry for the HKJC after it was recently forced to cancel a meeting over safety concerns, to the cost of approximately $130m to the government.

18. Lottoland (19)

Since its inception in 2013, the leading bet-on-lotteries operator has handed out more than $1bn in prizes, including a Guinness World Record €90m pay-out last year to a cleaner from Berlin. Lottoland has increased its customer base by 67% over the last two years and hit the milestone of 10 million customers worldwide in July. The lottery operator is now live in 15 markets and employs more than 350 people across its offices in Gibraltar and Malta. In April, Lottoland entered South Africa for the first time, offering US Mega Millions and US Powerball to players via its local licence. Elsewhere, the firm was fined £58,000 in June for offering Swedish lottery betting without permission but enjoyed a victory in Australia after winning a Supreme Court case against the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Failing to halt Zeal’s takeover of MyLotto24 at the turn of the year was arguably a blow to business, but there is plenty on the horizon for Lottoland in 2020.

19. Rank Group (20)

When John O’Reilly was appointed Rank Group CEO last year following the departure of Henry Birch, you knew he had a trick or two up his sleeve to improve digital performance at the bingo/casino operator. Fast forward to Q3 2019 and Rank reported an 8% year-on-year increase in gross gaming revenue, inspired by 15% online growth during the period. O’Reilly also turned to consolidation to shore up financial fortunes, and the £115m deal to acquire Stride Gaming – which represents more than 25% of UK bingo brands – was shrewd and will bring in some much-needed new proprietary technology. Former Stride Gaming CEO Eitan Boyd and COO Darren Sims will lead a new Interactive division at Rank Group which should inspire further growth online, if the integration is not too troublesome.

20. Celton Manx (24)

A quick search of the EGR online story archives usually provides a reasonable snapshot of how influential a company is in the online gaming industry. One exception to this rule is those operators which are predominantly Asia-facing and thus have little interaction with the European B2B trade media. The biggest of this group of companies is Celton Manx, the Isle of Man-based operator behind the popular Asian betting brand SBOBET, which continues to be a leading operator in its chosen markets.