After publishing the 20th edition of the EGR Power 50, which saw Flutter Entertainment retain its crown, we have picked out some interesting figures from this year’s comprehensive rundown of the industry’s most powerful and influential operators.

7

Leapfrogging seven places, this year’s highest climbers are Lottomatica (25^th) and Caesars Digital (33^rd). Starting with Lottomatica, the Italian heavyweight behind brands Lottomatica, GoldBet, BetFlag and Bettor reported a 30% year on year (YoY) rise in pro forma digital revenue to €374m for the first nine months of 2023 and that its market share in Italy stood at 21.3% in Q3. What’s more, Lottomatica is sure to rise again in the EGR Power 50 next time around after winning the race in November to acquire SKS365, the parent company of Italian bookmaker Planetwin365.

Meanwhile, Caesars Digital has made notable strides in the US the past 12 months, expanding its online sportsbook to Kentucky, Maryland, Puerto Rico, Massachusetts and Maine. It has also added a new racebook offering and doubled down on igaming with its in-house-built Caesars Palace casino app introduced to four US states and Ontario. Digital net gaming revenue (NGR) for the nine months until the end of September surged 115% YoY to $669m.  

44.6

That’s the average position of the five operators making their debut in the EGR Power 50. They are: Buzz Bingo (50^th), Holland Casino (49^th), Novibet (45^th), Bet9ja (40^th) and GGPoker (39^th). If anyone isn’t au fait with these businesses, Buzz Bingo is investing heavily in digital and taps into its land-based venues for omnichannel gains, state-owned Holland Casino holds a strong and trusted position in the regulated Dutch market, and Greek operator Novibet is making headway across large parts of Latam.

In the shape of the top debutants, Bet9Ja is a powerhouse in Nigeria, and GGPoker has earned its place in the EGR Power 50 for the way in which the operator has knocked PokerStars off its perch and gone on to dominate the poker vertical.

11

The operator to narrowly miss out on the top 10 with an 11^th-place finish this year is MGM Resorts International. However, the Las Vegas-based casino group, which holds a 50% stake in BetMGM in the US, did climb three places. Or LeoVegas Group did, to be precise, after the Swedish firm was snapped up by MGM in 2022 in a deal worth $604m. LeoVegas Group, which owns brands such as BetUK, Pink Casino and the eponymous LeoVegas, has been making impressive progress of late, culminating in the business being crowned operator of the year at the EGR Operator Awards 2023 in October. This year, MGM and LeoVegas Group launched BetMGM in the UK market, backed up by a flashy above-the-line advertising campaign fronted by US actor and comedian Chris Rock.

21

Every year, EGR relies on the services of accountancy and business advisory firm BDO to assist with assessing the fiscal prowess of public and privately owned operators. BDO also supplies us with graphs and tables to provide a visual representation of how firms and the industry have performed over the past few years. One chart that caught our eye showed that the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for NGR since 2018 is 21%. It was also 21% in terms of NGR growth this year, which hit £32.6bn in 2023.

4

Jumping three places to fourth, DraftKings has reclaimed the position the Boston-headquartered operator lost in 2022. The past 12 months, DraftKings has been the darling of publicly listed companies as its shares have rocketed 233% since 1 January – more than trebling its market cap to north of $17bn. And the reason for this bullishness among investors? Well, the operator is eating up market share, so much so, analyst firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming estimates that the online gambling lead was snatched from FanDuel in Q3 based on gross gaming revenue (GGR).

Indeed, DraftKings co-founder and CEO Jason Robins said in November that his firm had grabbed a 33% slice of the US online gambling market, with its share, based on GGR, up 1,000 basis points over the five previous quarters. With DraftKings expected to be sitting on a cash pile of around $1.2bn by the end of the year, speculation around potential M&A targets is rife.

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That’s how many operators made it onto our ‘Ones to watch’ list, up from four companies last year. In other words, these are firms we have identified as knocking on the door of the EGR Power 50.

In no particular order, they are: Fanatics Betting & Gaming, which is backed by sports apparel giant Fanatics and recently shelled out $225m for PointsBet US; Spain- and Latam-focused Codere Online; multi-brand casino operator Rootz; Mexican giant Caliente; leading African bookmaker Hollywoodbets; and the company that scooped the rising star category at the EGR Operator Awards 2023, Rhino Entertainment.