Super Group has basically thrown in the towel when it comes to sports betting in the U.S. but the group is still holding out hope for the online casino business.
During its Q3 earnings report, Super Group projected $21.5 million in losses on the U.S. business in the back half of the year. The company still operates online casinos and sportsbooks in Pennsylvania and New Jersey under the Betway brand.
The operator said it did not expect to incur any additional shutdown costs associated with shuttering the Betway sportsbook brand in seven states. Moreover, the cost of the shutdown came in at $38.6 million rather than the $49 million projected during the Q2 earnings call.
Even though sports betting was a failure for the brand, Super Group leadership is still confident they can find success in other U.S. gaming verticals.
“So, yes, we tried sports. It didn’t work. But casino, we’re really good at. So we are in New Jersey and Pennsylvanian. We are seeing good revenue increase. We’re seeing good green shoots. Again, we’re not chasing revenue for revenue and never to make a profit, so we have to make sure we can get to the revenue target that we’ve set the business, which so far they are meeting,” CEO Neal Menashe said on the earnings call.
“And then we want to be able to turn this into a profitable business. But if we feel that it gets too far away from being able to achieve profitability, then we have to change stance. But remember, the caisno business is easier for us and this is what our bread and butter is across the world. America is no different.”
Per the Q3 earnings presentation, Super Group is looking at rolling out two more brands from the Spin Games portfolio in the two states, one of which will be Jackpot City.
Other operators, such as Caesars, are finding success spinning up multiple different casino brands as it has with Caesars Casino, Caesars Palace Online Casino and the recently launched Horseshoe Online Casino.
Even though Super Group is committed to U.S. iGaming for now, Menashe made it clear things had to make sense on the balance sheet and that expenditure in the market would be lower in Q4 than it was in Q3.
