Lottomatica revenue increases 4% YoY in Q1 amid market share gains

Lottomatica has posted group revenue of €440.1m (£376.3m) for Q1 2024, a 4% year-on-year (YoY) increase, though adjusted EBITDA dropped 4% in the same period for the Italian giant.

There was double-digit growth in online revenue, up 21% YoY to €150.4m, but retail sports betting revenue dropped 15% to €94.4m.

There was also a 4% YoY drop in adjusted EBITDA, standing at €149.5m, which was driven by “unfavourable” payouts throughout the quarter.

Gross gaming revenue (GGR) stood at €1bn, a 1% YoY rise, on the back of total stakes of €8.7bn during the reporting period, itself a 20% increase on Q1 2023.

In terms of market share, Lottomatica noted its slice on the online pie in Italy stood at 21.6%, up 2.9 percentage points YoY.

Online sports betting market share rose 3.1 percentage points to 21.2% while igaming market share saw similar growth of 2.9 percentage points to 21.8%.

The financial performance and market share results for the Milan-listed firm do not include contributions from SKS365, with Lottomatica only completing the €639m acquisition earlier this month.

SKS365 CEO Alexander Martin left the Italian firm last week following the completion of the deal on 24 April.

Compared to its rivals in the market, Lottomatica reported its 21.6% of total online market share is above Flutter’s 21% and Playtech’s 9.4% – before factoring SKS365’s 7.2% share which brings the total to 28.8%.

Additionally, Lottomatica’s 21.8% of igaming market share combined with SKS365’s 6.4% took a 28.2% slice of the sector, higher than Flutter’s 18.2% and Entain’s 9%.

Online sports betting market share, which stood at 21.2% for Lottomatica during Q1, will be bolstered with 9.7% from SKS365, to put the firm ahead of Flutter (17.6%) and Playtech’s Snaitech brand (13.1%).

Elsewhere, key metrics in 2023 included more than 774,000 registered customers and over 395,000 annual unique active online players.

Guglielmo Angelozzi, Lottomatica Group CEO, confirmed the completion of the SKS365 deal has lead to guidance for 2024 increasing.

The newly adjusted EBITDA guidance for full-year 2024 for the business now stands at €680m-€700m for Lottomatica and €80m for SKS365.

Lottomatica noted this figure will be representative of eight months of contribution from SKS365, with the operator confirming the newly acquired firm reported €72m in full-year 2023 adjusted EBITDA.

Guidance revenue for Lottomatica is expected to come in at €2bn.

Angelozzi added: “In the first quarter of 2024 we have continued our path of organic growth, also supported by solid market tailwinds, with revenues and EBITDA achieving double-digit growth YoY (at normalised payout).

“We have successfully completed the acquisition of SKS365 in April 2024, therefore upgraded the guidance, and continue to execute on our strong pipeline of bolt-on M&A.”

Following the release of the Q1 results, the Italian firm’s share price was up 1.7% on the day to €10.74.