Revenue for the six-month period amounted to €56.8m (£48.6m/$67.6m), a decrease from €62.3m in the previous year.
In February, Bet-at-home began operating under its new German sports betting license and implemented its own platform in the country. However, the new license requirements had a negative impact on customer activity during the first half of the year.
Under the State Treaty, customers now have a monthly betting limit of €1,000, with a few exceptions for higher limits of €10,000 or €30,000. Deposits are also limited until players pass verification checks, and licensees must integrate with the national self-exclusion system OASIS. Additionally, betting markets must be approved by the Regional Council.
In-play betting is restricted to markets involving the final result or the next scorer, which has received criticism from industry bodies like the Deutscher Sportwettenverband. These changes resulted in lower-than-expected performance during the Uefa European Football Championship in the latter part of the first half of the year.
The online gaming segment in Germany also performed below expectations due to a ban on popular games like roulette and blackjack. Only online casino games such as slots and poker are allowed, but they face strict restrictions such as a 5.3% tax on turnover, a €1,000 monthly spending cap, and a €1 per spin stake cap on slot games.
Although Bet-at-home gained long-term legal certainty in its core market of Germany with the new licensing, the upcoming implementation of cross-product monthly betting limits for online sports betting and online gaming is expected to lead to further revenue losses in Germany in the coming months.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) also decreased by 65.8% to €5.4m. This decline was partly due to higher marketing expenses related to Euro 2020, with spending increasing by €3.1m compared to the previous year.
Bet-at-home also faced customer lawsuits in Austria amounting to €3.2m and discontinued its Polish business from 1 June 2021 due to legal changes. In Poland, the operator’s services were blocked by authorities through IP address and payment method restrictions. Bet-at-home took legal action and applied for a sports betting license in response.
By the end of the first half, group equity stood at €34.4m, a decrease of 32.4% from the previous year. Cash and cash equivalents, along with short-term time deposits within the group, declined by 26.4% to €41.8m.
Based on the first half performance and the factors that impacted results during the period, Bet-at-home expects gross betting and gaming revenue for the full year to be between €100m and €110m, with EBITDA projected to total between €8m and €10m, consistent with previous forecasts.
