ZEAL Network raises 2024 guidance following “exceptional” jackpot development

ZEAL Network has raised its full-year 2024 guidance for the second time this quarter, claiming the increase was down to “exceptional jackpot development”.

The German firm said it had already reached its annual revenue and EBITDA guidance which was issued in November following another increase.

Initially, ZEAL’s guidance was raised to €158m-€168m from €140m-€150m, with EBITDA of €42m-€46m, up from €38m-€42m.

However, the lottery operator’s revenue guidance went up once again to €175m-€185m, with EBITDA sitting at €55m-€59m.

In a statement, ZEAL said there were an “exceptionally” high number of maximum jackpots in the past two months, while the €120m Eurojackpot was reached seven times in a row.

Meanwhile, the maximum jackpot has been reached 13 times this year, compared to five in 2023.

Financially, ZEAL reported that for the first nine months of 2024, revenue spiked 41% year-on-year (YoY) to €121m.

EBITDA grew 51% YoY to €35m, while monthly active users increased 17% YoY and cost per lead dropped 24% YoY to €35.54.

Last week, ZEAL announced it was celebrating its 25th anniversary – it was founded in 1999 as Tipp24.

Helmut Becker, ZEAL CEO, said: “What began 25 years ago as a two-man start-up in Hamburg has now developed into a group of companies with more than 250 employees. 

“We are more successful than ever in our core business of lottery brokerage and are continuously expanding our market share and our business model. In doing so, we are staying true to our motto: we define the future of lottery.”

Jens Schumann, ZEAL co-founder, added: “When we founded the company, we still printed out the lottery tickets that our customers played online and handed them in at the kiosk around the corner. A lot has happened since then.

“Today, ZEAL is one of Germany’s leading e-commerce companies. It gives me great pleasure to have been so closely involved in its development to date.”