SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Industry affiliate marketing network Better Collective has closed its first interim trading period as a Stockholm-listed enterprise, eyeing significant ‘future growth opportunities’ within the online gambling marketplace.
Publishing its Q3 2018 trading statement (period ending 30 September), Better Collective detailed accelerated network growth, recording a 68% year-to-date revenue increase of €28 million (YTD2017: €17m).
Better Collective’s expanding network achieved a corporate milestone of delivering +67,000 (+102%) new depositing customers to industry incumbents during Q3 2018 trading.
The Copenhagen outfit has continued to deliver on its strategy of integrating and enhancing newly acquired assets, supporting the organic growth of its established legacy portals.
Closing a busy Q3 2018 trading period, in which Better Collective entered the Greek online gambling market by acquiring the network assets of WBS GR and KAPA Malta, Better Collective reported a YTD 2018 corporate EBITDA (before special items) of €10.7 million up 45% on corresponding 2017’s €7.3 million.
Updating Better Collective investors on the firm’s ‘Interim call’, Chief Executive Jesper Søgaard was pleased with the corporate progress undertaken during a transformative year.
However, he detailed to investors that ‘2019 will be Better Collective’s most significant year in business’ as the company moves to establish itself as the dominant US affiliate marketing network.
Søgaard and CFO Flemming Pedersen confirmed to investors that Better Collective has booked-in costs for US expansions, proving that the company will establish an active US presence during 2019
“The US market is a priority for us that we continue to monitor closely,” said Søgaard. “We have products available in the states that are currently open for sports betting. Since it is a new market, we are cautious in how we approach it to ensure that we are always compliant, yet we have definitive plans to build an organisation on the ground over there during 2019.”
Gearing up for a stateside expansion, Better Collective is revamping flagship portal bettingexpert.com’s US content, tools and engagement capacities, and has further launched new portals such as US-bookies.com, detailing the ‘most comprehensive coverage’ of legalised US betting jurisdictions.
Søgaard added: “Even before PASPA was repealed, the USA was one of our top 5 largest traffic sources on bettingexpert.com. The traffic was never monetised due to regulation, but our users over there enjoyed the community aspect of tipping on sports. Now that we can monetise bettingexpert.com state-by-state as they regulate, we are making sure that our products are adapted to the American betting culture.”
Outlining the firm’s initial ‘US strategic vision’, Søgaard backs Better Collective establishing an early market presence, stating that ‘all options are open’.
Replicating its European growth success, whilst securing new US learnings, Better Collective’s leader believes that few of its affiliate competitors will be able ‘to scale US market complexities’.
“We’ve taken extensive measures to make sure that our sites are approachable to our American users,” he explained. “This includes sending our Product Experience team on missions to the US to research so that we can apply their findings to our products. The American betting culture is very different from ours in Europe, and we want to make sure that our users are given the best guidance possible in a language and experience that they understand.”
