Kindred and 888 Report Double-Digit Q1 Growth

Operators continue to reveal strong figures, as Kindred and 888 become the latest to report double-digit growth for the first quarter of 2021.

Kindred reported a revenue rise of 41.2 per cent year-on-year to €352.6m (£306.5m/$425.7m) in the first quarter of 2021, while 888 revenue rose by 66 per cent year-on-year to €216.9m.

Casino, poker and gaming made up €192.9m of Kindred’s revenue, representing a 52.1 per cent year-on-year increase in its strongest verticals.

Meanwhile, casino was also the strongest performer at 888, where the vertical grew by an astonishing 80 per cent to €161.1m.

888 saw a 67 per cent year-on-year increase across its B2C casino, sports betting, poker and bingo combined, to €216.9m.

Sports betting brought in revenue of €159.7m for Kindred, with stakes up 49.3 per cent to €1.71bn. At 888 sports revenue rose by 63 per cent to €34.3m, with stakes up 38 per cent.

Kindred saw most of its casino revenue come from Western Europe at €126.7m, however the Nordic region was down by 7 per cent to €39.7m, which the firm attributed to the Swedish deposit cap.

The firm reported revenues of €18m from Central, Eastern and Southern Europe and €8.5m from the rest of the world.

888 reported that regulated markets made up 76 per cent of all Q1 revenue, with notably strong growth in UK, Italy, Spain, Romania and Portugal.

Reflecting on the future for Kindred, chief executive Henrik Tjärnström said: “We are confident in our strong cash position and our place in the financial markets that we can do a deal if we want to or need to.

“Consolidation in the sector has been ongoing for 20 years plus and it’s been accelerating for a number of years. Scale is important, of course our growth rate has been excellent but if we can add strategic acquisitions on top of our growth rate that would be even better.”

At 888, chief executive Itai Pazner said: “The strong momentum in 2020 has continued into the first quarter of 2021, with a new all-time-high for [first-time deposits] and revenues, although year-on-year trends were partly inflated by the disruption to sporting events at the end of the prior year period, and increased demand for digital entertainment during this period across our main markets.”