The spring and summer sports doldrums did not impact the bottom line of Gambling.com Group in Q2. The company reported 53% revenue growth year over year, jumping from $10.4 million in 2021 to $15.9 million this year.
Gambling.com North American revenues up 300% YoY
On the company’s earnings call, CEO and Co-Founder Charles Gillespie noted the company’s North American segment was up 300% from 2021. The company’s presence in the North American affiliate market jumped 500% from last year thanks to M&A as well as the increased number of available markets in the US.
Gillespie credited the April launch in Ontario for the more than $6.2million the North American team generated in Q2. The company’s partnership with newspaper group McClatchy, inked in January, also contributed to the bottom line.
M&A improving Gambling.com Group’s US position
The company’s focus on M&A also paid dividends, with the newly acquired site BonusFinder exceeding expectations. GCG’s acquisition of Rotowire also had a nice moment this week when the Rotowire Football Draft Kit hit #1 in the Apple App Store.
Adjusted EBITDA did dip year-over-year, but was still positive for the quarter. That number dropped 34% from $5.5 million in 2021 to $3.6 million this past quarter. Net income did rise up to $3.1 million from $2.4 million last year. Gillespie was content with the group’s targeted acquisition plan as well its pace of expanding in the US and Canada.
“We continued to execute on our strategy of rapidly growing our business in North America in the second quarter as the team delivered company-wide revenue growth of over 50% and North American revenue growth over 300%,” said Gillespie. “The strength of our business model was also on display, as we continued to deliver strong Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow despite the second quarter being the seasonally weakest and while investing in the organization to drive future growth. Our view remains that Gambling.com Group offers the best value proposition for online gambling operators’ investments in customer acquisition and we look forward to the second half of the year as we enter the heart of the North American fall and winter sports calendars.”
Expansion will continue into NFL season
With the launch of Canada under the company’s belt, Gambling.com will turn to the new markets opening up in the next sixth months, starting with Kansas later this week. The company is also readying sites for Ohio, Massachusetts, as well as Maryland. While Ohio is set to launch on Jan. 1 and Massachusetts is on track to go live in early 2023, the start of Maryland sports betting remains plagued with delays. Gambling.com Group CFO Elias Mark did also note the company revised its Q4 projections to reflect the new Ohio start date, as the company initially expected a fall launch.
Gillespie elaborated on the company’s expansion plans for the back half of 2022:
“We have made substantial investments over the past few quarters to diversify and strengthen our portfolio to ensure we are well positioned to serve a growing and diverse audience of players around the world. In addition to our established cash-generating websites, we own and operate a number of additional websites which are ready to be monetized as soon as additional space launch, such as BetMaryland.com and BetMassachusetts.com. These sites on these premium domains have been developed in-house on our technology platform, which will maximize the ROI for these capital investments. Over time. As announced last week, the launch day of online sports betting in Kansas is on Thursday, and we are well positioned with BetKansas.com as well as major in-market media outlets thanks to our partnership with McClatchy.”
Gillespie also noted the company will be keeping close watch on California, but when asked about the likelihood of the state passing one of the two sports betting-related propositions on the ballot, he pointed out the company is a digital marketing company and not pollsters. He also cited Indiana and Illinois as potential new online casino states.
Gillespie also mentioned whispers about online casino expansion in New York, which he said would be an industry game-changer.
