European Gaming News
SAZKA Group Q1 2020 Operational and Financial Review and Update on Current Trading
SAZKA Group a.s. (“SAZKA Group” or the “Company”, and together with its subsidiaries and associates the “Group”) announces its financial results for the three months to 31 March 2020 and provides an update on current trading.
Q1 2020 Financial highlights
- Consolidated gross gaming revenues decreased by 11% to €405 million (Q1 2019: €458 million), primarily as a result of the impact of COVID-19 on land-based sales.
- Consolidated Operating EBITDA[1] decreased by 23% to €124 million (Q1 2019: €162 million).
- Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA, which excludes certain one-off items, decreased by 23% to €117 million (Q1 2019: €151 million).
- Consolidated profit after tax from continuing operations decreased by 51% to €43 million (Q1 2019: €87 million).
Pro-rata LTM highlights[2]
- Pro-rata LTM Adjusted EBITDA was €398 million.
- Pro-rata net debt / Adjusted EBITDA was 2.9x and Pro-rata priority net debt / Adjusted EBITDA was 0.4x at 31 March 2020.
Trading update
- The Group’s land-based activities in Greece, casinos and VLTs in Austria and product sales in Italy were closed as a result of government or regulatory measures in March.
- The Group’s POS networks for lottery products in the Czech Republic and Austria were not subject to restrictions and a substantial majority have operated without interruption.
- Online channels and Digital-only Games have performed strongly throughout the period, supported by the launch of new products and optimisation of existing offerings as well as changes in customer behaviour as a result of COVID-19.
- COVID-19 related restrictions began to be relaxed beginning in May. Substantially all of the Group’s operations which were closed have now reopened.
Baltics
MARE BALTICUM Gaming Summit ’22 Speaker Profile: Ondrej Lapides – CEO at Tom Horn Gaming
The 5th edition of the MARE BALTICUM Gaming Summit & BSG Awards will take place on 12 May 2022 and welcomes leading operators, service providers, and gambling industry experts from all across the Baltics and Nordics.
Find more details here | Register / Get tickets here
#marebalticum2022 – You are invited to join the Baltic region’s most important in-person gathering. The conference series has been launched in 2018 and has enjoyed yearly growth while continuously bringing innovation to the boutique-style events landscape. As mentioned above the conference will take place on the 12th of May in Vilnius, Lithuania at Radisson Blu Royal Astorija Hotel and is bringing a new format that will allow more interaction among the attending delegates.
The event gathers +30 experts who share their knowledge around compliance-related matters and updates from the Baltic and Nordic regions to the +100 participants! Make sure you are one of them!
Each week we are introducing some of the great minds that are going to share the stage in Vilnius and bring you the latest and most vital information.
Today, we are introducing our next speaker: Ondrej Lapides – CEO at Tom Horn Gaming
Ondrej Lapides is an accomplished executive with over 15 years of experience in the online and offline betting and gaming industry. In 2015 he assumed the position of CEO at Tom Horn Gaming, and has since led the business with distinction. Through a combination of strategic innovation, strong business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit Ondrej has been instrumental in building Tom Horn Gaming into an internationally successful brand, while driving sales growth and tapping into new markets. He has played an important role in creating and solidifying the company culture based on an open, collaborative approach, and fostering personal growth and equality of opportunities. His passion for entertainment and sustainability have led to innovations across the board and helped immensely in creating award-winning games Tom Horn Gaming is famous for as well as introducing new product lines and solutions. With his expertise in local gambling markets, in-depth knowledge of operator and player needs Ondrej takes the lead in the company’s expansion strategy. Tom Horn Gaming became the first approved igaming software supplier in the regulated Lithuanian market in 2016. Since then the company has added a number of jurisdictions to its running tally of regulated markets. Leveraging considerable industry insights, a strong network of connections, and diplomatic skills, Ondrej contributes to the development of the future of his beloved igaming industry by providing strategic advice and mentoring to a number of entities.
Order your Delegate Pass or VIP (Combo) Package (Delegate Pass +Accommodation) now!
The summit has the support of Tom Horn Gaming and Nordic Gambling as sponsors.
Here is what the participants of the MARE BALTICUM Gaming Summit series are saying:
Domenico Mazzola – Commercial Director at Altenar
MBGS was a pearl in the sea of so many conferences around the world. Such interesting panels! Zoltan and Betty did a great job inviting so many relevant people from the industry, regulators, and from governments putting all of them together to discuss regulations, exchanging ideas, and solutions on how different countries regulate the gambling sector. A must-attend event!
Baltics
MARE BALTICUM Gaming Summit ’22 Speaker Profile: Gustaf Hoffstedt – Secretary-General at the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling
The 5th edition of the MARE BALTICUM Gaming Summit & BSG Awards will take place on 12 May 2022 and welcomes leading operators, service providers, and gambling industry experts from all across the Baltics and Nordics.
Find more details here | Register / Get tickets here
#marebalticum2022 – You are invited to join the Baltic region’s most important in-person gathering. The conference series has been launched in 2018 and has enjoyed yearly growth while continuously bringing innovation to the boutique-style events landscape. As mentioned above the conference will take place on the 12th of May in Vilnius, Lithuania at Radisson Blu Royal Astorija Hotel and is bringing a new format that will allow more interaction among the attending delegates.
The event gathers +30 experts who share their knowledge around compliance-related matters and updates from the Baltic and Nordic regions to the +100 participants! Make sure you are one of them!
Each week we are introducing some of the great minds that are going to share the stage in Vilnius and bring you the latest and most vital information.
Today, we are presenting to you our following speaker Gustaf Hoffstedt, Secretary-General at the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling
Gustaf Hoffstedt is the Secretary-General of BOS, the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling since January 2015. Among the association’s members are all major operators and suppliers that operate with a license inside the European Union, but outside of Sweden. Prior to joining BOS, Gustaf served as a Member of the Swedish Parliament for the Moderate party, and as vice mayor and chairman of the Social board in his constituency Gotland before that. Gustaf has fought for the abolition of the Swedish gambling monopoly and the implementation of a licensing system for more than a decade. He is pleased to see that things currently appear to be moving in the right direction. Gustaf resides in Uppsala with his wife Caroline, who serves as vice mayor in the municipality for the Social Democratic party – the traditional rival of Gustaf’s own party. In their leisure time, they enjoy hiking in the mountains of northern Scandinavia.
Order your Delegate Pass or VIP (Combo) Package (Delegate Pass +Accommodation) now!
The summit has the support of Tom Horn Gaming and Nordic Gambling as sponsors.
Here is what the participants of the MARE BALTICUM Gaming Summit series are saying:
Sissel Weitzhandler – Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at Play’n GO:
It was an honor to take part at Mare Balticum Gaming Summit in Riga last week. The agenda and topics were extremely relevant, as demonstrated by the high level of interest and the entire event was very well organised. It was an absolute pleasure to take part in the forum so well attended by regulators, legal experts, industry representatives and operators where ideas and lessons can be shared and learned. I would like to thank the organisers, the individual panels including my distinguished fellow panelists. I hope to be back again as I believe this is an event one should not miss.
European Gaming News
Pariplay’s Portuguese Prominence Flourishes through Partnership with Casino Portugal
Portfolio of industry-leading casino content continues to take over Portugal with latest partnership
Pariplay Ltd., the No. 1 aggregator and content provider behind innovative products including the Fusion™ aggregation platform and the Ignite Studio development programme, has today announced it will be taking its presence in Portugal to new heights by partnering with the respected online casino and sports betting operator, Casino Portugal. Through the agreement, Pariplay’s wide breadth of high-quality games, which have already become major hits among Portuguese players, will extend even further by being made available at CasinoPortugal.pt, rounding off a hugely successful 2020 for Pariplay.
Consistent with Pariplay’s ongoing efforts to offer more games to more players in more markets across the globe, bolstering its presence in promising spaces such as Portugal is instrumental.
The agreement will see first-class content from Pariplay’s own propriety game library and the Fusion™ aggregation platform, which have been certified for Portugal and are already live in the market, made available on CasinoPortugal.pt. Hit titles, like Dragons Of The North Deluxe, Wolf Riches, King of The Tirdent Deluxe, Treasure Temple, and Rumble Rhino, all of which are hugely popular in regulated Europe, will complement CasinoPortugal.pt’s existing offering by giving its players access to a whole new assortment of state-of-the-art casino games.
António Laranjo, Co-CEO at Casino Portugal said: “We are happy to be collaborating with leading supplier Pariplay, who have demonstrated their dedication to growth and innovation since the beginning. Thanks to our partnership with them, we’ve enhanced our player offering significantly by introducing an interactive suite of their leading casino games, which have had so much success in this market already.”
Christine Lewis, CCO & MD Malta at Pariplay said: “We are very pleased with how much we were able to broaden our presence throughout regulated markets this year, signing several deals with prominent European operators, including this latest one with Casino Portugal. It’s exciting to see our game studio extend in a country with as much potential as Portugal, and we’re confident that we will continue adding substantial value to the gaming experience for players in this market and many others, as we move forward and expand in 2021.”
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