Interactive
Canada – Sports betting now PokerStar’s biggest earning vertical
By Phil - 27 February 2020
Sports betting in now PokerStar’s biggest earner, helping drive fourth quarter revenue growth by seven per cent along with revenue growth in the UK and Australia segments and the BetEasy acquisition.
Online sports betting accounted for 39.1 per cent of PokerStar’s total revenues versus 34.3 per cent in 2018, followed by online casino (30.8 per cent versus 30.1 per cent in 2018) and online poker (27.5 per cent versus 32.8 per cent in 2018), while 81 per cent of consolidated revenues were derived from locally regulated or taxed markets 76 per cent in 2018).
Rafi Ashkenazi, The Stars Group’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “In 2019, we continued to execute on our strategy to deliver long-term sustainable growth and become the world’s favourite iGaming destination. We not only began to see the full-year benefits of our transformative 2018 acquisitions, but executed on delivering a landmark media partnership in the US, with the launch of FOX Bet, strengthening our position in this emerging market.”
“In-line with our expectations, we exited 2019 with a strong fourth quarter with Constant Currency Revenue growth of seven per cent year-over-year driven primarily by the continued impressive underlying performance of our primary sports betting brands,” continued Mr. Ashkenazi. “With sports betting now our largest product vertical and 81 per cent of our revenues coming from locally regulated or taxed markets, we are well positioned for diversified growth in 2020 and beyond.”
“We entered 2020 with the full $100m run-rate of expected cost synergies from our 2018 Sky Betting & Gaming acquisition and earlier this month prepaid an additional $100m of debt, underpinning our ability to execute on complex integrations and the highly cash-generative nature of our business model. In addition to cost synergies, we have detailed plans in place to continue driving revenue synergies and to increase investments in product and marketing, giving us confidence in continued revenue growth in the years ahead. In 2020, we plan to further enhance the global appeal of the PokerStars brand, including by launching the PokerStars Sports brand, leveraging the operational capabilities of our Sky Betting & Gaming business, and launching television advertising for PokerStars Casino,” continued Mr. Ashkenazi.
Since its launch in September 2019, just four months after The Stars Group announced its US media and sports wagering partnership with FOX Sports, the FOX Sports Super 6 app saw more than 1.3 million downloads in 2019, with an average of over 500,000 customers making at least one prediction each week during the fourth quarter. The Stars Group currently operates its FOX Bet real-money wagering products and PokerStars-branded real-money poker and casino products in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and since the launch of FOX Bet in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in 2019, the performance has been in-line with The Stars Group’s expectations, with strong progress in both active customers and revenue on a month-to-month basis, with approximately 65,000 combined QAUs in the fourth quarter. During 2019, FOX Bet’s financial performance was in-line with its previously disclosed expected loss of approximately $40 million for the year. So far in 2020, The Stars Group announced a market access agreement with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Gaming Authority for first-skin online betting and gaming market access in the State of Michigan, and currently expects to increase investments in the United States to support planned FOX Bet launches in further states, including Colorado.
