Super Group is the latest online gambling company to decide that the U.S. market just doesn’t work for them.
The parent company of online casinos including Jackpot City and Spin Casino and sportsbook Betway announced on Tuesday that it will scrub its American footprint entirely by exiting its U.S. online casino operations. The group previously shuttered its U.S. sports betting brand Betway almost exactly one year ago.
The company is evaluating its strategic options for the exit. Chief Financial Officer Alinda Van Wyk said in a release that the process is in its early stages, but the company expects to incur a one-time cash restructuring cost of approximately $30 million to $40 million as a consequence.
The decision comes after what the company called a comprehensive evaluation of its global priorities, regulatory developments and the U.S. unit’s financial performance.
Although it abandoned sports in the States, the company retained an online casino presence by offering Jackpot City in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In March of this year, it brought Spin into the fold in both of those states, and in May, Menashe suggested Super Group could add other brands from its portfolio into U.S. markets.
But CEO Neal Menashe said on Tuesday it’s time to focus on the markets that make the most sense.
In its July 8 statement, the company said that the quarter ended June 30, 2025, is expected to be the strongest in the company’s history, and it raised the guidance for its ex-U.S. revenue and adjusted EBITDA accordingly. But most of Super Group’s North American revenue is Canadian, and its previous reporting for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, showed that while total North American revenue grew 18.3%, the continent’s share of group revenue shrank to 35%. Africa has eclipsed North America as its biggest market by revenue share.
So, why now?
Menashe told SBC Americas recently that the company was assessing “on a monthly basis” its KPIs and whether it felt it could pursue a path to profitability in the American market, noting that “it’s about our current performance in the markets we are live in in the U.S.”
He had already hinted that Super Group’s intentions in the U.S. were shaped largely by regulatory requirements and factors such as cost of entry. On the May call, he cited the Michigan market as “one that probably did get away from us” due to its cost of licensing.
“Tens of millions of dollars in [mooted] license fees in Ohio and similar numbers in Michigan can make the overall commercial viability of those markets incredibly challenging,” he subsequently told SBC Americas. “Operators need to be given a path to profitability, and where [states] price themselves too high, they will not foster healthy competition nor benefit from the fiscal contribution that the industry brings.”
Now, Menashe said in the July 8 release that Super Group’s intention to exit the U.S. follows recent regulatory shifts that have impacted its long-term U.S. expected profitability.
“Our stringent hurdle for return on capital will likely not be met in this market any time soon.”
Super Group CEO Neal Menashe
“Recent regulatory developments combined with ongoing assessment of capital allocation requirements have led us to believe that our stringent hurdle for return on capital will likely not be met in this market any time soon. We therefore intend to focus capital and resources on markets where we see the greatest opportunity for scalable, sustainable, profitable super growth, with a disciplined emphasis on operational efficiency.”
Menashe did not name any particular developments. But New Jersey lawmakers recently agreed to raise the Garden State’s online casino tax rate from 15% to 19.75%, and there are rumblings that tax hikes could be coming in Super Group’s other state of operation, Pennsylvania.
Couple that with the fact that geographical expansion of online casino in the U.S. continues to be slow, plus the domination of the market by a number of brands, and American online casino (or sports betting) doesn’t make sense for everyone.
Within the last two years, a host of operators have either scaled back significantly or pulled out entirely of the U.S. market, including Evoke, Unibet, Sports Illustrated Sportsbook, WynnBet, SuperBook and Tipico.
