Interactive

Germany – Zeal zooms through 2022 with 14 per cent increase so far

ZEAL Network SE, the leading German online provider of lottery products, continued to increase its business volume in the third quarter of 2022. While many e-commerce sectors were still affected by declining purchasing power and the effects of inflation, the lottery market, once again, showed its resilience and even benefited from the positive jackpot environment in July.

ZEAL Group’s transaction volume increased by ten per cent to €544.4m in the first nine months of 2022 up from €493.2m. At the same time, revenues grew by 14 per cent to €74.5m.

The market environment for lotteries in Germany in the first nine months of 2022 was better than in the previous year, as the number of bigger jackpots was back on statistical average. For example, the LOTTO 6aus49 lottery reached the €45m mark two times in two consecutive draws, triggering a mandatory payout in each case. In the European lottery Eurojackpot, a previously unattained record jackpot of €110m was won in the first nine months of 2022 and cracked by a LOTTO24 lottery club from North Rhine-Westphalia. In July, the Eurojackpot also rose to the highest possible value of €20m for the first time.

In the first nine months of 2022, ZEAL acquired 501,000 registered new customers. Here, the increased acquisition costs per registered new customer of €36.42 are primarily based on a special offer for the freiheit+ social lottery in January 2022. Without this effect, the CPL would have increased significantly less at €34.58. At €24.1m, marketing costs in the first nine months of 2022 were 29 per cent higher year-on-year due to the stronger jackpot situation.

For fiscal year 2022, ZEAL still plans to expand its market leadership as an online provider of state and other permitted lottery products. Depending on the general conditions – in particular the development of jackpots – the company continues to expect a billings volume of at least €750m. This forecast is based on an average jackpot development, resulting in a higher growth rate than in the previous year. In addition, ZEAL continues to assume that revenue will be at least €105m in fiscal year 2022. For adjusted EBITDA, ZEAL expects at least €30m.

“We are proud of our continued growth trajectory, which proves that we have also taken the right measures in the first nine months of 2022 to improve even further both in terms of customers and results,” says Jonas Mattsson, CFO of ZEAL. “With the share buyback offer, we want to further optimize the capital structure of ZEAL Network SE. In addition, we look forward to continuing to make our products accessible to more and more new target groups through targeted partnerships, thus systematically further expanding our reach.”