Kindred sees spectacular 24% rise in Gross Winnings Revenue

Kindred Group has reported a 24 per cent year-on-year increase in gross winnings revenue (GWR) to £280.7m (€308.6m/$367m) for the third quarter of the year.

Of that total, £120.9m (€133m/$158.2m) was contributed by sports betting during Q3 of 2020, taking the total sports betting GWR for the period January to September 2020 to £310.9m (€341.8m/$406.5m), a 4.3 per cent drop on £324.8m at the same point in 2019.

Kindred cited increased activity as the reason for the growth in sports betting GWR in the third quarter of 2020 after many sports resumed later in the season, resulting in sports betting stakes being 21 per cent higher than the third quarter of 2019.

However, the gross margin for total sports betting for the third quarter of 2020 after free bets was 8.2 per cent, a reduction at the same time in 2019.

Casino was the vertical responsible for the greatest proportion of Kindred’s GWR in Q3, bringing in £145m (€160m/$190m) up 38 per cent from £104.7m at the same time in 2019.

Poker was responsible for £6.8m (€7.5m/$8.9m) of Q3’s GWR, with the remaining £8m (€8.8m/$10.5m) coming from other activities.

Commenting on the results, Kindred CEO Henrik Tjärnström said: “Strong growth in regulated markets combined with continued cost focus resulted in a strong quarter.”

He added it was clear the world was continuing to struggle as a result of the pandemic, but that Kindred had experienced “sustained momentum across our markets” as a result of its “diverse business model”.

Western Europe accounted for the majority of Kindred’s revenue, at £173.3m (€190.6m/$226.8m), while the Nordics was the only region to report a year-on-year fall to £66.0m (€72.6m/$86.4m). The rest of Europe contributed £25.4m (€28m/$33.2m).

Tjärnström highlighted the US as a key investment market. Kindred is already live in New Jersey, Indiana and Pennsylvania, with Illinois and Iowa set to roll out next year.

“It is encouraging to see the continued strong growth in the US, with the market share in Pennsylvania reaching above 5 per cent during the third quarter. With New Jersey and Indiana also growing steadily, I expect the US to become one of Kindred’s largest markets during the next couple of years,” he said.

Activity in the US boosted revenue from Kindred’s other markets to £16m (€17.6m/$21m) however, Tjärnström added that there has been a cost to accessing new markets.

“As with all market entries, the initial investment phase is focused on building our customer base and, as a result, the US market has seen revenue negatively impacted by big bonus campaigns during the second half of the quarter, but still grew 22 per cent sequentially”, he said.