Gaming Realms announces record year as revenue jumps 26% in 2023

Gaming Realms has reported a 26% year-on-year (YoY) increase in full-year 2023 revenue to £23.4m following a “strategic focus” on content licensing.

Revenue for the 12 months to 31 December 2023 increased from £18.7m in the previous 12 months, with strong gains in licensing offsetting a slide in publishing revenue.

The firm announced that licensing revenue jumped 33% YoY to £19.9m from 2022’s £14.9m, while social publishing revenue dropped 5% YoY from £3.7m to £3.5m.

Elsewhere, adjusted EBITDA grew 29% YoY to £10.1m, up from £7.8m, making it a record year for the supplier. Reported EBITDA stood at £9.2m, growing from £7.4m in 2022.

The group’s licensing segment saw EBITDA land at £11.3m, up from £8m in 2022, while the publishing division’s EBITDA plunged by almost 50% from £1.5m to £800,000.

In turn, pre-tax profit leapt 47% from 2022’s £3.5m to £5.2m, while the firm reported a year-end cash balance of £7.5m, up from £2.9m in 2022, with Gaming Realms remaining debt free.

In North America, revenue increased 26% YoY to £8.1m in 2023 due to the popularity of Slingo games, a trend also experienced in Europe which saw a 33% YoY rise in revenue to £10.5m.

Full-year highlights included gaining licences in West Virginia, Sweden and Greece as well as launching in Portugal.

The group also increased unique players in its licensing business by 24%, with new deals in place with Tetris, Relax Gaming and WMG.

Gaming Realms CEO Mark Segal said the numerous launches throughout 2023, as well as the popularity of Slingo’s gaming portfolio, were key drivers

“I am delighted to present another record year for Gaming Realms,” Segal commented. “Driven by the growing demand for our Slingo portfolio in the international igaming markets, revenue grew by 26% with adjusted EBITDA growing 29%. This demonstrates the operational leverage driven by our content licensing business.

“We are now licensing our games into 20 regulated markets and have launched with 44 partners in the year and have 75 live games which demonstrates the scale of our content licensing business.”

For 2024, Gaming Realms has already reported a 20% YoY increase in its “licensing business” and launched with 14 new operators in the UK, including LiveScore Bet and DAZN, bet365 in Ontario and Entain in Spain.

Segal added: “We have had a promising start to 2024, having already launched with 14 new partners and our new Slingo games, such as Slingo Hot Roll and China Shores Slingo, driving new players to Slingo.

“With this momentum, we are excited to continue delivering further game launches, new partner deals and, with planned launches in West Virginia and Greece, expanding our global footprint even further.”

Gaming Realms shares slid 3.4% to 35p in trading this morning.

Peel Hunt has a ‘buy’ recommendation and a 60p price target as the analyst firm deems the business to be “undervalued”.