Evolution Q4 revenue climbs 32% despite “sabotage” and cyberattacks 

Evolution has posted a 31.5% year-on-year (YoY) increase in revenue for Q4 2024 to €625.3m (£523.1m), up from the €475.3m generated in the final months of 2023. 

Bosses heralded “strong momentum” across several markets, including North America, Latam and Europe, as a driver behind the revenue rise, alongside improvements made to its RNG offering. 

There was a similar rise in EBITDA, reported as €455m, representing a 35% increase year on year. This meant the firm achieved an EBITDA margin of 72.8%, which was a slight improvement on the 70.9% posted the prior year.  

Despite the gains, investors offloaded Evolution stock in early trading; shares fell 7% initially before recovering slightly, yet are, at the time of writing, down almost 6% on the day to SEK829 (£60.50).

Breaking Evolution’s revenue down by vertical, live casino contributed €459.4m to the overall share, up from €405.6m in 2023. Bosses said this was largely fuelled by a rise in commission income from both existing and, to a lesser extent, new customers.

RNG revenue was recorded at €74.4m, the highest the vertical has reached across the last five quarters.

Analysing the revenue total by region, Asia ranked supreme having amassed a total of €202.2m, remaining flat quarter over quarter (QoQ), due to what CEO Martin Carlesund conceded was a “difficult year” in the region for Evolution, with a string of cyberattacks in 2024’s fourth quarter thwarting significant progress. 

Besides the cyberattacks, the company also highlighted “sabotage activities towards our Georgian studio”. Last year there was strike action involving staff based at its Georgia offices over allegations of unsafe working conditions, harassment and inadequate pay. 

Meanwhile, Europe generated revenue of €201.8m, compared with €185.8m in Q4 2023. 

The trend of stateside growth continued, with the company’s US-based operations generating €70.6m in revenue, up from the €59.1m the equivalent reporting period previous year.

Evolution’s Latam division amassed €38.5m, while efforts in other regions contributed €20.7m to the supplier’s topline figure. 

The share of group revenue that stemmed from regulated markets increased by one percentage point YoY to 41%. 

Operating expenses came in at €207.6m, an increase from €172.2m in the corresponding period for 2023 attributable to a launch of new tables in Evolution’s studios, which led to a higher cost for personnel alongside more expansion efforts generally. 

CEO Carlesund said: “We saw strong momentum in the final quarter of the year in North America, Latin America and Europe.  Development in Asia is flat versus the previous quarter as we continue to face challenges from cyberattacks towards our video distribution in the region.    

“Our live casino offering continues to perform well in the fourth quarter with 13.3% growth year on year. We end the year with over 1,700 tables, a net increase of about 100 tables during 2024. During the year we added over 300 tables across our network, which I am happy with, but with significantly reduced capacity in our Georgia studio, this added capacity is still not enough.” 

He added: “To respond to the continued strong demand for live casino, we will continue to invest for growth during 2025. We have ongoing projects for new studios in Brazil and the Philippines and I expect in total to open three to four new studios during the year.” 

Evolution’s full-year revenue for 2024 increased 23% YoY to €2.2bn, while EBITDA also rose 23% to almost €1.6bn. Profit for the year was €1.2bn, a marginal gain from €1.1bn in 2023.

Carlesund addressed some of the year’s turbulence, noting: “It has also been a year in which we have handled several challenges such as the sabotage activities towards our Georgian studio, cyberattacks in the Asia region and also an increased tax rate.  

“For 2025, our first priority continues to be growth and to increase market share in the expanding online casino market. Expansion will continue in 2025 – with a slightly more expensive resource mix, taking into account the situation in Asia and a strengthened focus on regulated markets we expect to see an effect on margin.” 

Regulus Partners said in a note that Evolution’s Q4 results “headline well with 32% growth”, yet the analyst firm added that RNG studio acquisitions are “badly underperforming expectations” and that “real revenue growth was more pedestrian”.

Just before Christmas, Evolution was embroiled in controversy after the Gambling Commission confirmed it would be reviewing the supplier’s licence to operate in the UK after some of its games were found available to play on unlicensed operator’s sites targeting British players.  

In the immediate aftermath of the news, Evolution shares fell by 11%. 

The UK regulator has not confirmed if it has concluded its investigation or released any findings as yet.