Last week, Betsson published its H1 2024 accounts which revealed record results matched against peak comparatives. Q2 trading saw Betsson achieve online casino revenues of €191m, up 16% year-on-year, and sports book revenues of €79m, up 13% year-on-year, when matched against peak comparatives. 

In the first half of today’s iGaming Daily, supported by Optimove, Viktor Kayed, Senior Business Journalist at SBC News, was joined by Betsson’s CEO, Pontus Lindwall, to discuss the company’s positive performance so far in 2024.

On the results, he said: “We’ve been on a very good run now for a couple of years, and this is due to decisions that we made four or five years ago. But now we have a good platform, we have a very good team in place. I hope that we can continue to be strong in the market.”

Betsson has continued to expand in markets around the world and Lindwall stressed the need for a global approach to improve visibility in different regions. Part of this strategy includes the firm’s partnership with current Serie A champions Inter Milan. 

“We’re trying to be global in what we do,” explained Pontus. “One example of that is the Inter Milan sponsorship. It’s an Italian team with a strong knowledge and presence in Italy but it’s a huge club. 

“They have a long history and they have a large fan base in Latin America an example, but globally as well. So we tend to shift more to global initiatives like that rather than doing only local marketing in the different markets where we’re active.”

Betsson offers both online casino and sportsbook products and the duo discussed the company’s desire to balance investment and earnings between the two verticals. 

He said: “It’s not something we work very hard to change that balance. Both products are growing and the products as such go hand in hand. We can see now that when we had the big sports tournaments, the Euros and Copa, we saw increased activity also in the casinos. They go pretty much hand in hand and we will continue to invest in both these products so they can complete each other.”

After a short pause, James Ross, SBC’s Multimedia Editor, and Ted Menmuir, SBC’s Content Director, take over and break down the interview with Pontus and also delve deeper into Betsson’s numbers. 

On the interview, Ted said: “One thing that came out is how confident [Pontus] is of that strategy, of the brand makeup and the diversification of Betsson as a group. 

“I think what Betsson is doing strategically which others aren’t in the same kind of category is that it’s going first to market, but it’s also applying a very good recreational approach to its products with high customer engagement.”

He added that Betssons diversification of its brands and sportsbook growth will offer it “less risk of exposure” on its casino product when expanding in South America and Eastern Europe.

Betsson reported a  5% decrease in net income and up to a 15% drop in cash flow in the first half of 2024.

Ted explains that these results were to be expected off the back of the cost of Euro 2024 and Copa America, higher tax exposures in Eastern Europe and greater spending in new markets. They were also offset by an increase in  Betsson’s active customer base which grew to 1.6 million active users per month. 

He added: “You can look at that net income coming down but they are getting something out of it. Longer term, once that recreational strategy comes into play, the net income should expand or get back to indexing on that month-on-month record bases that they’re seeing.”

To end the show, Ted is asked what to expect from Betsson in the second half of 2024 following its strong start to the year.

He said: “I think you have to stand back and analyse where Betsson are compared to its competitors. One thing that is in Betsson’s favour is that they’re not a PLC under reorganisation. 

“Refreshingly, we’re speaking to a CEO who backs his strategy, isn’t talking about a realignment of brands, really likes the portfolio and really likes the approach to how they go from market to market.”

He concludes by saying that all eyes will be on Betsson’s commitment to the Brazilian market and “how it will navigate the first phase of the launch of its brand proposition out there”.