SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Publishing its Q1 2017 trading statement, Frankfurt Xetra-listed European sports betting operator mybet Holding SE has detailed continued negative declines in its corporate revenues and earnings.
A tough Q1 opening, has seen mybet post group revenues of €8.9 million, down 29% on corresponding Q1 2016’s €12.5 million. The operator detailed that its online casino product, had been ‘out of operation’ during the period due to ‘complaints raised by authorities’.
Adding to mybet’s woes, was the high number of sports betting customer wins accumulated during February and March, which had a significant impact on earnings as the firm posted a period EBITDA of – €2.2 million (Q1 2016: -€800,000).
Issuing a statement Markus Peuler, CEO of mybet commented on performance “In the first quarter the existing trend in the development of the business basically continued since we have put our new platform into operation by the end of the quarter. However, the sports results and the high number of won bets by customers connected with them formed an additional burden which we had never experienced this way during the last years. But in total the quarter clearly shows why we did not forecast a large growth in revenue for the financial year 2017 despite the new platform. We firstly have to break the downward trend”
Despite a turbulent opening to its 2017 performance. mybet governance points to upcoming improvements as the company fully integrates its new IT platform which was launched in March following two-years of internal development.
Further relief for mybet was announced this May, as the firm won its ten-year German High Court battle against Westdeutsche ‘WestLotto’ Lotterie GmbH & Co gaining an €11.8 million settlement.
Issuing a May update mybet governance detailed that proceeds would be used to its credit facility. The company has stuck by its revised full-year EBIT target of €4.5-5.5 million combined with a group cash position at the end of the year of € 1- 2 million.
