Global B2C Gaming Revenue up 38% in Q1

Global B2C gaming revenue rose by 38 per cent year-on-year in Q1, according to analysis by H2 Gambling Capital.

Despite there being a slight decline for B2C revenue between Q4 2020 and Q1 2021, H2 has reported that Q1 revealed strong year-on-year growth for both B2B and B2C operations.

This was the case across much of the world, particularly the US, Australia and Asia, while Germany and the Nordics experienced some regulatory setbacks.

H2 revealed that sports betting revenue was up 51 per cent year-on-year, while gaming revenue grew 28 per cent, equating to a 38 per cent increase over all compared to Q1 2020.

H2 highlighted the growth of Evolution Gaming, after its acquisitions of NetEnt and Red Tiger, as one of the key drivers of B2C growth.

B2C revenues for Q1 2021 were down by 1 per cent compared to Q4 2020, with sports betting down 7 per cent but igaming still saw a rise of 6 per cent quarter-on-quarter.

Germany and the Nordics presented the greatest challenges to B2C revenues, with operators reporting revenue decreases of between 50 and 70 per cent year-on-year from Germany.

At the same time, the Nordics presented payment processing issues in Norway, a tax rise in Denmark and temporary restrictions introduced due to Covid-19 in Sweden.

Online gaming suppliers enjoyed a rise in B2B revenue of 55 per cent year-on-year, beating the 52 per cent growth reported for Q4 2020.

This contributed to an overall year-on-year revenue increase of 42 per cent, according to H2. With a ‘weighted average EBITDA’ growth of 119 per cent, driven mainly by B2B performance.

Looking ahead to Q2, operators have said they expect to see income ‘broadly in-line with that seen in Q1’, however, H2 suggested that consumer spending may be squeezed as the extent of any post-covid economic disruption becomes clearer in the coming months.

Despite this, sports betting may make up any shortfall with the UEFA 2020 European Championships and Copa America tournaments due to take place towards the end of the second quarter.