Q&A: Snaitech CEO on the firm’s 2022 performance and expansion hopes

As he heads into his eighth year as Snaitech CEO, Fabio Schiavolin has seen his fair share of action at the Italy-facing operator. As part of Playtech’s B2C operations, Snaitech has come out of the Covid-19 pandemic in rude health, with H1 2022 showing the firm was in good stead.

During the report, Snaitech received praise due to adjusted EBITDA soaring 143% compared with H1 2021 and revenue rocketing 182%.

This was powered by the reopening of retail venues in Italy where Snaitech “maintained its number one position by brand across retail and online sports betting”.

Revenue for its other B2C brand HAPPYBET, in Germany and Austria, was up 26%, again driven by the reopening of retail sites. The Snaitech top team including Schiavolin also oversee operations at the operator.

Speaking to EGR, Schiavolin details how Snaitech has become of one of the leading operators in Italy, its concerted efforts around omni-channel and what the future holds for the Playtech B2C arm.

EGR Intel: Playtech’s H1 report to 30 June 2022 shows significant growth for Snaitech from a revenue and EBITDA perspective. How have these results been achieved?

Fabio Schiavolin (FS): Snaitech revenue saw significant growth in H1 2022: 182% from the prior period to €446m and our adjusted EBITDA grew 154% versus H1 2021. This strong performance was primarily driven by the reopening of retail sites in Italy and by the online segment, which has maintained a strong performance.

Our online business has continued to deliver an excellent performance, suggesting its growth during the Covid-19 pandemic was not just driven by the shift from retail to online but also by new customers being onboarded via the online channel. Also, our SNAI brand maintained its number one market share position both for retail and online in Italy.

EGR Intel: How have you succeeded in synergistically integrating retail and online channels, with benefits for both segments?

FS: Our excellent results reflect the success of a strategy that has been able to fully exploit the potential of the retail channel along with great progress in the online channel, which has seen us grow faster than the rest of the market.

The pandemic represented an incredible accelerator to the process of digitisation, and when the importance of building a bridge between physical and digital became clear to us, we began to work on strong cross-selling activities. What really made the difference was overcoming the resistance of the retailers to push their regular customers towards digital channels, but with shops closed, cross-selling proved crucial for Snaitech retailers to deal with the crisis and we worked to further facilitate this transition to ensure retailers received extra compensation. The pandemic also converted formerly very conservative users who were used to physical shops exclusively into digital consumers

EGR Intel: Is Snaitech looking to expand outside of Italy?

FS: Snaitech is part of a leading international gaming group [Playtech]. It has one of the most advanced technology platforms in Europe and has accumulated enormous experience operating in the Italian market. We have the characteristics to be competitive everywhere and we have enthusiastically and determinedly accepted the challenge of internationalisation.

In July 2022 we completed the acquisition of HAPPYBET [part of Playtech Group] enabling them to launch a new gaming platform on the online channel. HAPPYBET aims to seize the potential of the Austrian and German market that today is worth around €10bn and is undergoing a profound transformation process.

EGR Intel: What are your expectations for Snaitech in the next 12-24 months?

FS: Our challenge for the coming period will be to continue and consolidate both our organic growth – leveraging our expertise, the strength of the SNAI brand and our solid presence in all betting sectors – and our growth externally by focusing on the integration of HAPPYBET which represents our first step to internationalisation.