Biggest casino game provider increases their revenue with 23% in Asia-Andhravilas

Biggest casino game provider increases their revenue with 23% in Asia

Online gambling technology supplier Evolution Gaming has posted strong growth in revenue and earnings in 2020, amid the limitations set by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as well as the legal situation in the European Union.

Figures released by the Stockholm-listed company showed it generated revenue amounting to €140 million in the third quarter of 2020—up 48% from its Q3 2019 revenue, while earnings rose 87% to €90.7 million, and profit doubled to reach €79.4 million.

Evolution is considered to be one of the biggest casino game providers in the market today, developing, producing, marketing and licensing B2B live casino solutions to operators—allowing players in licensed and regulated jurisdictions to play online blackjack and other online casino games.

Asia reports biggest gains

Evolution’s Asia market has reported the biggest gains—€34.8 million in revenues—which is 23% higher compared to Q2 2020 and a 150.4% rise year-on-year. This is amid the ongoing pandemic that has swept the globe, with over 45.9 million cumulative total of COVID cases. India, whose cases have breached the 82 lakh-mark, is considered to be one of fastest growing gaming markets in Asia—poised to grow by 37% annually and reach $5 billion by 2022, according to Bernstein analysts.

The company’s Europe revenues (excluding UK and Nordic markets) shot up 41% year-on-year to €65.6 million, while North America increased by 50% to €9.2 million.

CEO Martin Carlesund said, “We are still dealing with the limitations imposed by Covid but we are slowly coming back towards pre-Covid levels in a number of tables.”

Meanwhile, Germany’s looming transition to become a regulated market in Europe is expected to have a “limited” but “negative effect” on Evolution’s bottom line, according to the chief executive. Germany is expected to issue licenses for online casinos—which includes a live casino and online slots—from July 2021.

“Revenue related to German players make up 5-10% of our current total revenues. While we expect a negative effect on our German revenue during the transition the effect on the Evolution group as a whole is limited. Long-term we view the move towards regulation in Germany as positive for Evolution,” Carlesund said.

Evolution drops ‘gaming’

The live casino provider has also announced a corporate rebrand, and now goes by “Evolution”—a name that it said accurately represents its activities.

As Carlesund puts it, “The new branding better reflects the diversity of our operations. In addition to our gaming offerings, we are also active within areas such as software development, technology innovation, and state-of-the-art broadcast studio design.”

The rebrand comes ahead of Evolution’s proposed SEK19.6 billion merger with slots supplier NetEnt, part of its bid to become “the world leader in the online gaming industry.” Evolution recently extended the deadline for shareholders to accept its proposal to take over rival NetEnt from October 30 to November 20, as the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority is currently investigating whether the acquisition will decrease the competition in the U.K. iGaming market. The U.K. competition watchdog is expected to release its decision on November 16.

“During the fourth quarter we look forward to closing the deal with NetEnt. We see a fantastic potential in combining the two companies and continuing to deliver the best playing experiences for players across the globe,” Carlesund said.