SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
FTSE gambling group GVC Holdings Plc has this morning upgraded its full-year EBITDA guidance to £670-680 million from its previous £650-670 million range.
Updating the market, GVC governance points to continued online growth maintained during a ‘softer’ Q3 trading period’, in which GVC delivered a 12% increase in net gaming revenues (NGR) despite competing against World Cup Russia 2018 comparatives.
Group Chief Executive Kenneth Alexander said: “I am delighted that the Group’s financial performance has allowed us to upgrade our full-year EBITDA expectations again. Online momentum remains strong across all major territories, with NGR up 12% in the quarter despite the prior period containing part of the World Cup. This performance continues to be driven by our industry-leading technology, products, brands, marketing capability, and people.”
At a retail level, GVC details that UK trends have performed better than anticipated, where it continued to adjust to the £2 machine wagering cuts by recording a like-for-like NGR decline of -18%.
During Q3, GVC closed a further 41 UK shops, taking total shop closures to 198 for year trading. It expects to close a total of up to 900 shops across the next two years.
Abroad, GVC governance is encouraged by the strong start of its US interactive joint-venture with MGM Resorts, which saw the launch of the BetMGM mobile app in New Jersey.
“The launch in September of the BetMGM app in New Jersey, powered by the GVC technology platform, is a key milestone, and our US sports-betting joint venture with MGM Resorts remains very well-placed to capitalise on the US sports-betting opportunity ,” Alexander details in the trading statement
The FTSE betting group details to investors that it is closely monitoring German & Brazilian regulatory developments, as it asses new market options for 2020 and beyond.”
