NEWS
17 March 2020
Better Collective and GiG adamant coronavirus won't affect business
By Iqbal Johal

The affiliate said business has been performing strongly up until mid-March and financial targets for 2020 won’t be affected. However, it did admit sports betting activity will take a blow as all major sporting events come to a halt; but esports and casino business remains the same.

February revenue increased 27% year-on-year to €6.9m ($7.6m). The affiliate expects the postponement of UEFA Euro 2020 until 2021 will mean between €2-4m of revenue will be postponed until next year.

On the assumption all major sports events are back and completed by the end of 2020, revenue excluding that of the Euros could be reduced by a further €4-6m. But because costs will be lower than budgeted for the full year, this will offset reduced revenue.

Better Collective CEO Jesper Søgaard said: "Though visibility is currently limited, we stay optimistic that normal sports betting activity levels will be restored."

Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) has also stated casino operations and daily net gaming revenue (NGR) will be unaffected despite the outbreak.

The supplier said NGR for March is in line with January and February, for both B2B and B2C platforms. This is due to the fact sports betting has accounted for just 6% of total revenue for 2020 so far, the same as last year

Media spend moving from sports to casino will reduce the impact on operations, it adds.

CEO Richard Brown said: "In these times of turmoil, GiG has so far proven our technology is robust, staff agile and that there is an increased demand for our services across of different verticals."