Holland Casino experienced a modest recovery in turnover during the first half of 2024, reporting an increase of €51.9 million compared to the same period in 2023, bringing total revenue to €405.3 million. Despite this, the company faces ongoing challenges, with high operating costs continuing to impact profitability.
For the first half of 2024, Holland Casino reported a pre-tax loss of €3.5 million, a significant decline from the €17.2 million profit achieved in the same period last year. Revenues fell by 2.4%, down to €395.4 million, while the company successfully implemented operational cost savings amounting to €5.4 million.
A notable contributing factor to the increased financial burden was the 1% rise in gambling tax, which added €3.7 million to costs. Additionally, Holland Casino saw an 11% rise in personnel costs, driven by inflation and the gradual increase in the collective labour agreement. These factors, combined with the company’s efforts to modernize its gaming offerings and staffing levels, have strained profitability.
In terms of performance, turnover at physical branches saw a slight decline of 0.5%. However, certain segments experienced positive growth, with gaming machines generating €3.9 million more than the previous year and catering activities seeing a modest increase of €0.7 million.
Online gaming, however, faced a notable decline. Holland Casino Online saw revenue drop from €57.3 million in H1 2023 to €48.9 million in H1 2024.
Looking ahead, Holland Casino anticipates continued pressure on its financial results, driven by rising costs and the difficulty of passing price increases on to customers.
CFO Ruud Bergervoet: “Holland Casino’s finances are under severe pressure due to increased costs. This mainly concerns high inflation, the increase in the collective labor agreement and investments in our gaming offer and staffing. As a company, we are also still working on the repayment of the corona debts. That makes our financial position vulnerable. It is crucial for our financial health that there are no further significant cost increases now. Only then can we prevent ourselves from ending up in a loss-making situation.”
“I am proud that we see that our employees are becoming increasingly alert to signals of possible excessive participation. You can see that the intensive training policy and the intensification of communication about this have further strengthened awareness. I am really proud of that.”
CEO Petra de Ruiter points out in this context that the intended increase in the gambling tax increase of 7.3% is irresponsible: “Our total tax burden will then be almost 50%. That makes black figures impossible. We will then make a significant loss. In Unlike supermarkets, we cannot pass on price increases properly. The only alternative is to take very undesirable measures such as aggressive campaigns to recruit new guests, encouraging people to spend much more or by drastically reducing the prize money. These measures are unacceptable to Holland Casino and irresponsible from the perspective of government policy on gambling. Moreover, the planned investments in our prevention policy are also under pressure.”
