Codere presses home Mexican advantage
Codere earnings, Stake in Colombia, Paraguay bill, Chile casino licenses +More
Codere’s core markets of Mexico and Spain show continued strength.
Stake acquires Betfair Colombia license, enters regulated space.
A new gambling bill in Paraguay promises to prevent "monopoly concessions”.
New casino licenses awarded in Chile.
Way down here you need a reason to move.
Codere Online
Core markets of Mexico and Spain show continued strength.
Floating the boat: Codere said the “best use of its cash” was to continue investing in its market positions in Mexico and Spain after the company faced questions from analysts about its current lowly share price. The share price remains some 68% below its float price at ~$3.23.
The questions came after the company reiterated it would be cash flow positive next year, with CEO Aviv Sher saying it had a “clear line of sight to becoming a profitable company next year”.
CFO Oscar Iglesias acknowledged the company was undervalued but said the plan for next year was to continue investing into the “strength” in the two core markets.
By numbers: Mexican NGR rose 63% in Q3 to €21m while revenues from Spain were up 27% to €18.9m. In comparison, the Colombian market position is withering away, down 5% to €1.8m. Within the total revenues of €43.2m, Sher said iCasino was worth 58%.
The company made a net loss of €1.8m vs. €11.6m in the prior-year period.
Forecasts for the year are for revenues to come in at €155m-€165m while adj. EBITDA losses will be between €10m and €18m.
The pain in Spain: Asked about why the growth in Spain remains strong despite the regulatory moves made to restrict marketing, Iglesias said that alongside the product improvements, particularly in iCasino, Codere might also be benefiting from smaller competitors exiting the market.
In Mexico, meanwhile, Sher said he was not sure whether Codere was taking market share from the market leader Caliente.
Asked about the current legal dispute between Caliente and provider Playtech (which also provides backend services to Codere), he said it hadn’t had any impact.
Further reading: Recall, in an interview with LosIngresos+Mas in September, CEO Aviv Sher said the company was “too optimistic” at the time of its float in targeting the whole LatAm region.
** SPONSOR’S MESSAGE ** EveryMatrix Slot Trumps Player Behaviour Report provides operators with exclusive player behaviour insights from the world’s hottest online casino markets. The focal point of this MUST-READ series is a shareable Slot Trump country card featuring never-before-seen findings.
Discover Slot Trumps Brazil today!
+Más
One in, one out: The regulator uncertainty in Brazil is the official reason for 188bet exiting the market on the cusp of regulation after what it says was 15 years of operations.
Betting in Brazil, just a little bit smaller: Weebet and ParlayBay have signed a deal for the provision of micro-betting in Latin America. Weebet’s CEO, Lenildo Nogueira, said micro-betting was a “relatively unexplored market niche”.
Extreme measures: Xtremepush has announced a deal with Playr.Bet for the provision of marketing ROI and player retention tools. Playr.Bet joins Betsul and Arena Esportiva as Xtremepush customers.
The name on the shirt: One of the senators promoting the sports-betting bill in Brazil has promised an open market for sports-betting sponsorships and unrestricted advertising. According to Senator Jorge Kajuru, the current discussions on the part of the economic affairs committee will bear in mind that the senators “only wish well for Brazilian football and the clubs”.
The Ponce Plaza Hotel & Casino in Puerto Rico has signed up with IGT for the provision of a suite of virtual sports products.
Date for the diary: San Juan, Puerto Rico, has been announced as the venue for the Ibero-American Gambling Summit taking place in May 2024.
Brazil advertising rules
The rules of the game: The National Council for Advertising Self-Regulation, known as Conar, has issued its guide to the advertising of sports betting, with the president of the organization saying it reflected a significant step towards the regulation of the sector.
The circular is based on specific measures contained within the laws that establish clear guidelines for the operation of sports-betting companies in Brazil.
The Conar guidelines include the prohibiting of false statements about bets, the discouraging of the exaggeration of betting activity, protecting the under-age audience, the inclusion of RG messaging and the encouragement of self-regulation of advertising.
No limit: Meanwhile, over 30 Brazilian football clubs have issued a joint letter opposing the restrictions on sponsorship that have been put forward in amendments to the bill. The clubs have appealed to the Senate's Sports Committee for a reconsideration and possible revocation of the amendment.
Stake in Colombia
Surprise! The controversial cryptocurrency casino and sports-betting operator has entered the Colombian market through the acquisition of Betfair Colombia’s license to operate, securing regulated activities until 2025.
According to a posting on LinkedIn from Stake's representative in Colombia, Brais Peña, the acquisition is in line with its strategic goal of expanding its business to other regions.
The conditions in Colombia are also optimal: the rules are clear and the sector is growing rapidly, which further convinced Stake.
Home away from home: Peña explained that Stake believes Colombia is the ideal market to use as a base for their upcoming expansion into the rest of Latin America. Its intention, he continued, is to contribute to the local economy and promote innovation by introducing unique and attractive content for the enjoyment of its customers.
As of now, Stake operates in Paraguay and Mexico through partnerships with regional operators and plans to enter Peru and Brazil in the near future.
Further reading: Earnings+More wrote about Stake in July for a Due Diligence issue. At the time it was reported to be applying for a license from Australia’s Northern Territory jurisdiction. Its existence in the unregulated crypto space is rumored to have fuelled its rise, with gambling consultants at Regulus previously estimating the company is the seventh-largest global operator.
Stake founder Ed Craven also previously took the unorthodox approach of using a gaming streaming platform to suggest Stake was primed to make a “very big move into the USA with a very big acquisition”.
Paraguay plans
Rectification: Fourteen legislators from the Chamber of Deputies have presented a bill to amend the country’s gambling laws and “establish the legal framework for the operation of games of chance”. According to their statement, the aim is to “update the current law to meet the requirements of modern times”.
The deputies said their plans hope to rectify what has become a monopoly situation, which, they argued, goes against provisions within the national constitution.
Article 107 of the Constitution states: “Every person has the right to engage in lawful economic activity of their preference, within a framework of equal opportunities. Competition in the market is guaranteed. The creation of monopolies shall not be permitted.”
The legislators have written that contrary to such provisions, the National Gambling Commission (Conajzar) “has been awarding the exclusive, i.e., monopolistic, exploitation of nationally significant games such as sports betting, lotteries and others, to a single company for a period of five years”.
Chilean casinos
Concessions: The Superintendency of Gambling Casinos (SCJ) of Chile, chaired by Vivien Villagrán, announced that its Resolution Council has granted operation permits for casinos to Dalmacia Gaming S.A. for the Antofagasta commune and region and to Ríos Claros S.A. for the Talca commune in the Maule region.
As reported by Chilean media, Dalmacia Gaming is a company linked to Enjoy, the current operator of the Enjoy Antofagasta Casino, while Ríos Claros is related to Dreams, which will take over the operation of the casino in Talca from December of this year.
Meanwhile, the superintendency stated it had decided to reject the offer presented by Casino de Juego de Talca, which was competing with Dreams' proposal.
The SCJ pointed out the permits were granted in a public hearing presided over by the undersecretary of Finance, Heidi Berner Herrera, in her capacity as the chair of the Resolution Council.
Publishing schedule
This is the English version of the LosIngresos+Mas newsletter published yesterday (16 November).
An +More Media publication.
For sponsorship inquiries email scott@andmore.media.
