The Czech lottery giant has published its financial results for the three-month period ended 30 September, reporting strong performance across all key indicators.

Its revenue was up by 18% over Q2 and by 88% over Q3 2019, as Covid restrictions were lifted, and its operations returned to near-normal levels.

Likewise, Sazka’s consolidated Adjusted EBITDA increased by 40% to €285.1m, while its cash flow amounted to €275.5m. All-in-all, this brings Sazka’s revenue for the first nine months of 2021 to €2.14bn, a 51% increase year-on-year.

“I am delighted to report that Sazka Group delivered yet another strong performance in Q3. Our GGR increased by 14% year-on-year and our Adjusted EBITDA increased by 40% with a margin of 53%, an eight-percentage-point improvement year-on-year,” remarked Sazka Group CEO Robert Chvatal.

“As a result, both our GGR and our EBITDA reached record levels in the quarter, significantly above pre-Covid levels. The third quarter was the first quarter in 2021 when all our businesses operated without material Covid-19 related restrictions.

“Our physical retail businesses in Greece and Cyprus, and casinos in Austria and internationally, which were adversely impacted by restrictions in H1, demonstrated a very rapid recovery, in line with our expectations.”

However, Sazka does not expect this trend to continue as various public health measures have since been reintroduced across Europe in response to a rise in Covid cases and the new Omicron variant.

Despite this, Chvatal remained positive, commenting: “While governments have introduced some new restrictions after the end of the period, these are much more limited than in previous periods and have, in the case of Austria, already been relaxed again.

“We remain optimistic about the outlook for Q4, supported by strong trading in most of our businesses and in the online channel.”