Gambling.com CEO hails "great start" after affiliate posts record Q1 revenue of $29.2m
Affiliate has recorded growth across all reporting markets despite a slight adjusted EBITDA decrease
Gambling.com Group has posted a 9% year-on-year (YOY) rise in revenue to $29.2m following a record first quarter for the affiliate.
The firm revealed it had recorded YOY revenue growth in every reporting region to deliver a strong opening quarter for 2024.
However, adjusted EBITDA decreased to $10.1m after the group posted $10.7m for the same period last year, representing a 5% YOY decline, with a corresponding margin of 35%.
The firm’s operating profit dipped 3% YOY, down from Q1 2023’s total of $8.1m to $7.9m, despite net income rising 11% to $7.3m.
Analysing the revenue growth by division, both the US and UK and Ireland markets reported a 5% YOY revenue rise.
The former saw a slight increase to $14.8m from $14.1m in 2023 as North Carolina online sports betting went live in March, while UK and Ireland recorded a similar marginal rise from $8.5m to $8.9m.
It was the group’s ‘Rest of Europe’ division that posted the largest revenue rise compared to Q1 2023, increasing 39% to $3.9m from $2.8m. The ‘Rest of World’ revenue climbed 29% YOY from $1.3m to $1.6m.
Broken down by vertical, the affiliate’s first quarter 2024 revenue followed a similar trend as the first three months of last year.
Casino contributed the lion’s share of the $29.2m by generating $19.8m, while the group’s sports arm amassed $9.1m, with Gambling.com Group’s other division accounting for the final $268,000.
New depositing customers surpassed the 107,000 mark within the first quarter, a YOY increase of 22%.
Charles Gillespie, Gambling.com Group co-founder and CEO, was buoyed by the affiliate’s Q1 results and remains optimistic for the remainder of the calendar year.
He said: “We are off to a great start to the year, furthering our confidence in our ability to generate strong adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow growth this year and for years to come.
“The investments we have made for years in our proprietary technology, website portfolio, and accretive acquisitions are driving consistent growth.
“As we continue to expand our industry leadership and influence across global online gambling markets and leverage the many growth drivers we have, we see a clear road ahead to generate substantially higher adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow,” the CEO added.
The impressive Q1 display also included the group landing a $50m credit facility with Wells Fargo Bank, which was used by the firm to snap up XLMedia’s European and Canadian assets in March.
The deal saw Gambling.com Group acquire FreeBets.com and related assets for an initial fixed fee of $37.5m.
The affiliate anticipates this transaction will generate revenue of approximately $10m over the course of 2024.
At the time of writing, the Nasdaq-listed group’s share price had decreased 3.9% to $8.14.