‘Better than expected’ results push Codere Online towards 2024 profitability
Codere Online earnings, suspicious matches report, Colombian slots, Mexico casinos’ appeal +Más
Codere Online posts formidable Q4 and FY23 results.
In +More: Inspired looks to Brazil, Betsul teams with Amigo Gaming.
Sportradar report finds 1,329 suspicious matches in 2023.
Colombia: Coljuegos formalizes 100,000 slot machines for small traders.
Mexican casinos appeal against anti-smoking law.
Don't mess with Mr. In-between.
Codere Online’s positive results
Feeling better: Codere Online’s formidable Q4 and FY23 results have left it confident it will generate positive adjusted EBITDA and cash flow for the full year in 2024.
CFO Oscar Iglesias hailed this “better than expected” outperformance, as core markets Spain, and particularly Mexico, continued to deliver.
“We expect to deliver upon our original commitment to investors to be a profitable company in the third year after de-SPAC,” said Iglesias.
By the numbers: Net gaming revenue was up 33% in Q4 to €50.1m ($54.5m), while the company’s net loss was just €1m in Q4 versus a net loss of €17.4m the previous year.
The final quarter results pushed FY23 net revenue to €172m, 19% above previous guidance.
This outperformance, combined with a lower level of marketing investment, also delivered a better than expected negative €12m in adj. EBITDA for the year vs the initial outlook of negative €20m-€30m.
¡Viva México! Mexico net gaming revenue grew 54% in Q4 to €25m, while Spain grew 17% to nearly €20m, on the back of an increasing contribution from the casino segment, which now accounts for 58% of net revenue.
CEO Aviv Sher talked about a “cautious” interest in Argentina and Brazil but the company’s real focus will continue to be the core markets of Spain and Mexico – emphasized by the fact that Colombia now accounts for less than 5% of revenue and will be bundled with ‘Other’ markets (Panama and Buenos Aires) in future results.
Going for gold: Sher said the team had faced the “dilemma of investing or focusing on EBITDA” but, with the company “growing faster than expected”, it can now focus marketing investment on Euro 2024, Copa America, where Mexico are playing, and the Olympics.
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+Más
Inspired: During its belated Q3 earnings call with analysts, gaming and betting provider Inspired Entertainment said the Brazilian market was top of mind when it comes to its virtual soccer product.
“As we’ve seen in other markets like Greece, Italy, Turkey and Morocco, having a passionate fan base for a sport is a great precursor for the success of virtual sports in that market,” said CEO Brooks Pierce.
Brazil: Spanish online slot provider Amigo Gaming has partnered with São Paulo-based Betsul to continue its growth in South America. Amigo will add games such as Jaguar Treasures, Burning Phoenix and Frozen Crown to Betsul’s portfolio.
Leave those kids alone: The Chamber of Deputies of Chile has approved Resolution 986, with 137 votes (88%) in favor, to urgently modify the Telecommunications Law to restrict minors access to the internet and protect them from “inappropriate and potentially harmful” content.
Boom time: Booming Games has announced it is registered to distribute its content in Peru, meaning Peruvian players will soon be able to enjoy games such as Burning Classics, TNT Bonanza, Cash Pig, Buffalo Hold and Win, and Classic Fantastic. Game and platform certifications are still pending.
Peru: Manuel San Román Benavente, former general director of Casino Games and Slot Machines, has passed away at the age of 74 in Lima. He served as a gaming sector regulator in Peru from 2006 until 2022.
We want to be together: IGT has announced it will spin off its Global Gaming and PlayDigital businesses and merge them with gaming-to-fintech company Everi. The deal values the combined businesses at an enterprise value of $6.2bn and is expected to close by the end of 2024/early 2025.
Suspicious matches report
Suspicious minds: There were 1,329 suspicious matches in 2023, occurring in 11 sports across 105 countries, according to Sportradar’s annual report, ‘Betting, Corruption and Match-Fixing in 2023’. The findings are based on the monitoring of over 850,000 events across 70 sports.
Compared to 2022, the rate of manipulated sports events in 2023 remained steady at around 0.21%, or one in every 467 matches.
Nearly three-quarters (73% or 977 cases) of all suspicious matches in 2023 were detected with the help of artificial intelligence, representing a 123% increase compared to 2022.
However, Sportradar emphasized that expert integrity analysis is essential for ensuring accurate data interpretation.
Key findings in 2023 included:
Football being the most popular sport for betting worldwide continued to be the most affected by match-fixing, with 880 suspicious matches.
Basketball ranked second with 205 suspicious matches, followed by table tennis with 70.
Individual betting data helped detect 85% of suspicious matches in volleyball and 100% in tennis and table tennis, confirming the importance of collaboration with the sports-betting sector to combat match-fixing.
Europe recorded the highest number of suspicious matches (667 compared to 630 in 2022), followed by Asia (302, up from 240) and South America (217, down from 225).
Protect and serve: In 2023, Sportradar’s data and reports were used to administer 147 sporting and criminal sanctions, covering 10 sports in 23 countries through 39 cases. This came with the support of over 220 partners worldwide, including sports organizations, state authorities, national platforms and other law enforcement agencies.
Andreas Krannich, executive vice-president of integrity, rights protection and regulatory services at Sportradar, suggested “continuous investment in technology development is key to detecting match-fixing cases.”
He added that “as AI models continue to learn... we will continue to refine our expertise to protect sports from manipulation.”
Colombian slots
Coljuegos' president, Marco Emilio Hincapié, has said the regulator will formalize about 100,000 slot machines operating illegally in Colombia as part of a strategy to promote legal gambling.
Give peace a chance: Hincapié explained that, in addition to seizing and destroying illegal machines, as part of President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” program “we are telling people to associate (with a minimum of 80 machines), so they can legalize their operation, protect their interests and contribute resources to health.“
Each commercial establishment may operate one electronic slot machine, with the maximum allowed determined according to the population of each municipality:
Less than 25,000 inhabitants: maximum of two machines per location.
From 25,000 to 50,000 inhabitants: maximum of three machines per location.
More than 50,000 inhabitants: maximum of four machines per location.
Mexican casinos appeal
Smoke gets in your eyes: More than a year after the implementation of the General Law for Tobacco Control, which prohibits smoking in public and private common spaces, casino and restaurant entrepreneurs maintain appeals meaning they don’t have to comply with the legislation.
According to La Voz de la Frontera, about 17 casinos in the city of Mexicali have such judicial recourse, allowing them to disobey the anti-tobacco law without consequences.
The law, whose first version dates back to 2008, bans smoking in 100% smoke-free public spaces and other places of collective gatherings, such as stadiums, squares, parks, beaches and even hotels.
Casinos and restaurants argue that the law generates a negative impact, such as a decrease in the average ticket price and a decline in customer influx since the new provision came into effect.
Butting in: Maximiliano Cárdenas, legal coordinator of the civil society organization Salud Justa Mx, which supports the anti-tobacco law, said: “We estimate there are more than 2,500 appeals filed against the regulation.”
Last July, the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Seasoned Food Industry (Canirac), an organization with about 13,000 members and 600,000 establishments nationwide, reported obtaining a suspension granted by the Fourteenth Collegiate Court in Administrative Matters of the First Circuit of Mexico City.
Last August, Cecilio Torres Salas, spokesman for the National Union of Book Operators and Entertainment, Hotels, Restaurants, Communications and Services Workers in Local and Federal Entities (Sintoled), said both his union and entrepreneurs in the sector have held meetings with deputies and the Ministry of Health to lobby for the law’s relaxation, as they consider it unjust and claim it forces casinos to engage in illegality.
The proposal, he noted, is for the Ministry of Health to allow a regulated area within casinos, not as the current legislation stipulates, which requires the smoking area to be eight meters away from the establishment.
“This issue affects us too much. We have between a 30 and 35 percent decrease in customer traffic to the casinos,” said the union leader.
Calendar
Mar 7: SBC Summit Rio
Publication schedule
This is the English version of the LosIngresos+Mas newsletter published yesterday (March 6).
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