News
The Stars Group Reports First Quarter 2018 Results
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TORONTO, May, 2018 – The Stars Group Inc. (NASDAQ: TSG; TSX: TSGI) reported its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018 and provided certain additional highlights and updates. Unless otherwise noted, all dollar ($) amounts are in U.S. dollars.
“The Stars Group’s strong first quarter results continued our organic growth trajectory,” stated Rafi Ashkenazi, The Stars Group’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are pleased with the performance of each of our verticals, poker, casino and sportsbook, which are benefiting not only from the continued success of Stars Rewards, but also from our strategy of focusing on the customer and continued improvements to our product offerings.”
“Moving forward, the exceptional foundation of our existing business will be complemented by our acquisitions of CrownBet and William Hill Australia, and expected completion of the Sky Betting & Gaming acquisition. These acquisitions will help diversify our revenue base, increase our exposure to regulated markets, and transform our combined sportsbook into a second customer acquisition channel. These new additions will accelerate not only the organic growth we are seeing in our existing business, but also our progress towards realizing our vision of becoming the world’s favorite iGaming destination.”
First Quarter 2018 and Subsequent Financial Highlights
Revenues – Revenues for the quarter increased approximately 23.8% year-over-year. Excluding the impact of year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, revenues for the quarter would have increased by approximately 12.4%. Real-money online poker revenues and real-money online casino and sportsbook combined revenues represented approximately 62.6% and 34.2% of revenues for the quarter, respectively.
Poker Revenues – Real-money online poker revenues for the quarter were $245.9 million, or an increase of approximately 12.4% year-over-year. Excluding the impact of year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, real-money online poker revenues would have increased by approximately 2.3% for the quarter. The increase in poker revenue was primarily driven by the positive impact of the Stars Rewards loyalty program, foreign exchange fluctuations, and the introduction of shared poker liquidity in France and Spain, as offset by, among other things, the cessation of operations or difficult operating conditions in certain markets including Australia and Colombia.
Casino & Sportsbook Revenues – Real-money online casino and sportsbook combined revenues for the quarter were $134.5 million, or an increase of approximately 55.0% year-over-year. During the three months ended March 31, 2018, 20.7% of the combined casino and sportsbook revenues related to sportsbook revenues. Excluding the impact of year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, real-money online casino and sportsbook combined revenues would have increased by approximately 39.3% for the quarter. The increase in casino and sportsbook combined revenue was primarily driven by continued improvements in The Stars Group’s casino and sportsbook product offerings, positive impacts of foreign exchange fluctuations, and the addition of revenue related to the acquisition of a majority of the equity interests in CrownBet.
Debt and Cash – Total long-term debt outstanding at the end of the quarter was $2.45 billion with a weighted average interest rate of 5.1%. As previously disclosed, on April 6, 2018, The Stars Group successfully increased the size, repriced at lower interest rates and extended the maturity on its U.S. dollar and Euro denominated first lien term loans and revolving credit facility, amended and restated the applicable credit agreement, and fully repaid the remaining $95 million outstanding on its second lien term loan. The Stars Group ended the first quarter of 2018 with approximately $257 million in operational cash on its balance sheet.
First Quarter 2018 and Subsequent Operational Highlights
Quarterly Real-Money Active Uniques (QAUs) – Total QAUs were approximately 2.24 million, a decrease of approximately 4.6% year-over-year primarily led by The Stars Group’s strategy of focusing on positive return customer relationship management initiatives to attract high-value, net-depositing customers (primarily recreational players) and the cessation of operations or difficult operating conditions in certain markets including Australia and Colombia. Approximately 2.09 million of such QAUs played online poker during the quarter, a decrease of approximately 5.5% year-over-year, while The Stars Group’s online casino offerings had approximately 621,800 QAUs, a decrease of 2.4% year-over-year, which The Stars Group continues to estimate as one of the largest active casino player bases among its competitors. The Stars Group’s emerging online sportsbook offerings had approximately 335,800 QAUs, a 16.3% increase year-over-year.
Quarterly Net Yield (QNY) – Total QNY was $165, an increase of 26.7% year-over-year, and QNY excluding the impact of year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates was $155, an increase of 18.7% year-over-year. QNY is a non-IFRS measure.
Net Deposits – Net Deposits were $353.4 million in the first quarter, an increase of 25.9% year-over-year. Net Deposits are closely correlated to The Stars Group’s reported net gaming revenue as some or all of the deposits eventually become revenue. The Stars Group believes that the increase in Net Deposits was primarily driven by the implementation of the Stars Rewards loyalty program and continued focus on high-value customers (primarily recreational players), positive impacts from foreign exchange fluctuations and continued development of the casino and sportsbook product offerings.
Customer Registrations – Customer Registrations increased by 2.3 million during the quarter.
CrownBet and William Hill Australia – On February 27, 2018, The Stars Group acquired a 62% equity interest in CrownBet Holdings Pty Limited, an Australian-based online sportsbook, from Crown Resorts Limited and then on April 24, 2018, The Stars Group increased its equity interest in CrownBet to 80%, and CrownBet completed the acquisition of William Hill Australia Holdings Pty Ltd. The aggregate purchase price for these transactions was $435 million (inclusive of $117.7 million to acquire the 62% equity interest in CrownBet), which was paid in a combination of cash and the issuance of approximately 3.1 million newly-issued common shares of The Stars Group.
Sky Betting & Gaming – On April 21, 2018, The Stars Group announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Sky Betting & Gaming, one of the United Kingdom’s leading online sportsbooks and gaming providers. The aggregate purchase price was $4.7 billion, of which $3.6 billion will be payable in cash and the remainder will be payable through the issuance of approximately 37.9 million newly-issued common shares. Completion of the transaction is conditional upon obtaining customary approvals from the Toronto Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, and certain gaming and other regulatory authorities, in addition to the completion of other customary closing conditions. To finance the cash portion of the purchase price for the transaction, The Stars Group obtained fully committed debt financing of $6.9 billion, including $5.1 billion of first lien term loans, $1.4 billion of senior unsecured notes and a $400 million revolving credit facility. The funded proceeds of $6.5 billion will be used for the cash portion of the transaction consideration, refinancing The Stars Group’s existing first lien term loans and repaying Sky Betting & Gaming’s outstanding debt.
2018 Full Year Guidance
Full Year Guidance – The Stars Group intends to provide revised 2018 full year financial guidance to include its acquisitions of Crown Bet, William Hill Australia and Sky Betting & Gaming when it releases its financial results for the second quarter in August. The Stars Group continues to be satisfied with the performance of its existing operations and as of the date hereof continues to expect the following 2018 full year financial guidance ranges:
Revenues of between $1,390 and $1,470 million;
Adjusted EBITDA of between $625 and $650 million;
Adjusted Net Earnings of between $487 and $512 million; and
Adjusted Net Earnings per Diluted Share of between $2.33 and $2.47.
These unaudited expected results reflect The Stars Group’s existing business, excluding CrownBet, William Hill Australia and Sky Betting & Gaming. These expectations also reflect management’s view of current and future market and business conditions, including assumptions of (i) potential negative operating conditions in Russia expected to begin in late-May 2018, (ii) no other material regulatory events, and (iii) no material foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, particularly against the Euro. Such guidance is also based on a Euro to U.S. dollar exchange rate of 1.20 to 1.00, Diluted Shares of between 207,000,000 and 209,000,000 for the high and low ends of the Adjusted Net Earnings per Diluted Share range, respectively, and certain accounting assumptions.
Financial Statements, Management’s Discussion and Analysis and Additional Information
The Stars Group’s unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2018 (the “Q1 2018 Financial Statements”), management’s discussion and analysis thereon (the “Q1 2018 MD&A”), as well as additional information relating to The Stars Group and its business, can be found on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com, Edgar at http://www.sec.gov and The Stars Group’s website at http://www.starsgroup.com.
In addition to press releases, securities filings and public conference calls and webcasts, The Stars Group intends to use its investor relations page on its website as a means of disclosing material information to its investors and others and for complying with its disclosure obligations under applicable securities laws. Accordingly, investors and others should monitor the website in addition to following The Stars Group’s press releases, securities filings and public conference calls and webcasts. This list may be updated from time to time.
About The Stars Group
The Stars Group is a leading provider of technology-based product offerings in the global gaming and interactive entertainment industries. The Stars Group directly or indirectly, including through its Stars Interactive Group division, owns gaming and related consumer businesses and brands, such as PokerStars, PokerStars Casino, BetStars, Full Tilt, and the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship, European Poker Tour, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Latin American Poker Tour, Asia Pacific Poker Tour, PokerStars Festival and PokerStars MEGASTACK live poker tour and event brands. These brands together have millions of registered customers globally and collectively form the largest poker business in the world, comprising online poker games and tournaments, sponsored live poker competitions, marketing arrangements for branded poker rooms in popular casinos in major cities around the world, and poker programming and content created for television and online audiences. The Stars Group, through certain of these and other brands, also offers non-poker gaming product offerings, including casino and sportsbook. The Stars Group, through certain of its subsidiaries, is licensed or approved to offer, or offers under third party licenses or approvals, its product offerings in various jurisdictions throughout the world, including in Europe, both within and outside of the European Union, Australia, the Americas and elsewhere. In particular, as of the date hereof, The Stars Group holdings gaming licenses or related operating approvals in 18 jurisdictions, and PokerStars, the world’s most licensed online gaming brand, holds gaming licenses or related operating approvals in 17 of those jurisdictions.
Full PR is available on: http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/the-stars-group-reports-first-quarter-2018-results-682285581.html
Source: European Gaming Media and Events
A partnership between game developer Turbo Games and iGaming solution provider and aggregator Slotegrator began in November 2022 via the APIgrator game integration solution. Since then, the collaboration has been developing successfully — and now it’s time to analyze what made it successful.
Turbo Games has noticed how the new technologies spreading throughout the industry can work for the good of brand transparency and player loyalty: “We can already see how blockchain technology has made it possible to make betting checks more accessible to players. All you need is a blockchain-hash and a decoder service. We think we will continue to move in this direction. Many traditional online casinos do not offer the possibility to check the bet. Sooner or later we all have to come to this. Perhaps the development of artificial intelligence will help here, because we are already seeing its involvement in all spheres of human life.”
Turbo Games specializes in provably fair games. Provable fairness is a concept where players can verify their wins or losses using blockchain technology — the outcome of the game is dictated by a smart contract and is absolutely random, barring the possibility of any human involvement. Using cryptographic hashing algorithms, the gambling site and the player’s device both generate seeds (random strings of numbers). Players receive a key that allows them to check the results; if the results are the same as the game round they witnessed, it proves that there was no foul play.
According to statistics from Turbo Games, the audience for provably fair games is mostly between 18 and 25 years old. However, there are also players aged 35-40 who prefer traditional games but would like to try something new, and have turned their attention to provably fair games.
There are good odds that the technology of provably fair games will become more popular, if not even commonplace, because it gives players a feeling of transparency and proves that the business is trustworthy without the need to search through dozens of reviews. Whereas many innovations in iGaming simply add entertainment, provable fairness addresses security concerns and reassures players that they’re not being exploited, which is invaluable.
Provably fair games are beneficial for both players and online casinos. Vadim Potapenko, Head of Sales at Turbo Games, comments: “It often happens that the users are not satisfied with the result, because gambling is not only about big wins, but also possible losses. By allowing them to check the fairness of a bet, we make life easier for platforms and players. Of course, this allows us to communicate with partners and users that we work honestly and that’s why they should trust our games.”
Ayvar Gabidullin, Business Development Manager at Slotegrator, adds that “this type of game is now becoming more and more popular and has great potential for both players and game providers in the future. On the part of the player, the advantage is that the player can always be sure that his game is fair and he can independently check any of his bets. And for the game provider, this also simplifies the process of implementing casino games, since now it will not be necessary to obtain the appropriate certificates from independent laboratories before launching new games, they can immediately enter the market with these games and where anyone can check the result and make sure that that there is no cheating with players. Many game providers are starting to look towards this type of game. And as far as I see, many operators are starting to think about adding these games.”
What do players in 2023 need? The iGaming industry is all about reputation and trust. Players have a huge number of platforms to choose from, making them pickier and pickier. There’s an abundance of forums where players leave reviews, so if players view a brand as untrustworthy, there are plenty of places they can share their opinion. Provable fairness not only stops that from happening, it provides evidence to the contrary, giving players something else to talk about.
Slotegrator also recommends investing time and effort into localization and creating an effective and detailed marketing strategy — before trying provably fair technology players need to get to the platform, and there is no acquisition without marketing.
ABOUT SLOTEGRATOR
Since 2012, Slotegrator has been one of the iGaming industry’s leading software and business solution providers for online casino and sportsbook operators.
The company’s main focus is software development and support for online casino platforms, as well as the integration of game content and payment systems.
The company works with licensed game developers and offers a vast portfolio of casino content: slots, live casino games, poker, virtual sports, table games, lotteries, casual games, and data feeds for betting.
Slotegrator also provides consulting services in gambling license acquisition and business incorporation.
More information: https://slotegrator.pro/
ABOUT TURBO GAMES
Turbo Games — a provably fair games provider that belongs to Turbo Stars company — has an ambitious goal to establish widespread recognition throughout the iGaming world. Even though it is young, the company consists of professionals who have been working on the brand for over five years and are even planning to introduce a new brand for a wider audience soon.
Turbo Games also works in Europe, India, and South Africa, where the company sees the most potential and expects the same “hype” as in Brazil.
The portfolio of Turbo Games consists of 21 titles, including well-known games like Mines, Crash X, DoubleRoll, Hi-Lo, and Plinko. The studio releases a game every month. However, not all games are developed from scratch. Wicket Blast and Spin Strike, the last two releases, are based on cricket and the Indian Premier League. Crash X remains the most popular fast game in the Turbo Games portfolio, and the studio reports that crash games enjoy stable levels of popularity. Overall, the main focus of the brand is provably fair games.
More information: https://turbogames.io/
Looking to take your career to the next level in the games industry? Then, Nordic Game Talents is the place to be! Games Factory Talents has teamed up with Nordic Game to bring you Nordic Game Talents.
From Oct 27-29, the online and interactive event is dedicated to recruitment and career building in the creative & games industry within the Nordic region. The event empowers participants to be part of a bigger community and motivates them to explore new paths in achieving their career goals.
Hiring creative & games studios – Supercell, Funcom, Panzerdog, Tactile Games, Gamecan, Fingersoft, Dazzle Rocks, Redhill Games to name a few from the Nordic region will be participating in the event. These studios will share information on their latest projects, work culture and what it takes to be part of their team. The individual games associations from Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Estonia will share insights through live sessions on the booming games industry in their respective countries. Career development topics pertinent to job seekers like – How to have a successful first interview, Creative Portfolio reviews will also be discussed.
Experienced game industry professionals and individuals beginning their careers from around the world are welcome to join the event. One-to-one interviews with the hiring studios can be scheduled through the event platform. A great opportunity to get to know the studios and network with game professionals from around the world.
Participating in the event
As a job seeker attending Nordic Game Talents, take a few minutes to fill out a simple registration form. After filling the registration form you will receive a link to the online event platform – PINE, to join the event on 27th October. Participants joining Nordic Game Talents will also receive a free-of-charge pass to the Nordic Game Conference.
To view the complete agenda, please click here and to learn more about the event please visit Games Job Fair
About Games Factory Talents
A Helsinki-based talent attraction agency dedicated to the games & creative industry. Our services include direct recruitment, organizing game job fairs and managing a community of game industry professionals through our GameDev Talent Board.
To learn more about Games Factory Talents visit – Games Factory Talents
810 THE SPREAD
Cumulus Media Launches 810 THE SPREAD, the Bay Area’s First Sports Station Focused on Sports Betting
Cumulus Media (NASDAQ: CMLS) announces that it has launched the Bay Area’s first Sports radio station focused on sports betting, 810 THE SPREAD. The new station brings sports and sports betting news, information, and insights to the burgeoning and underserved sports betting audience in San Francisco. 810 THE SPREAD will deliver behind-the-book perspectives from experts in a highly entertaining and engaging format. 810 THE SPREAD goes live today on the legendary 810am frequency that has been the 80-year home of historic Talk Radio KGO-AM. Cumulus San Francisco also launched the station’s new website at www.810thespread.com. Kevin Graham, Program Director of Cumulus’ sister sports stations KNBR 680AM/104.5FM and 1050 KTCT, adds Program Director duties for 810 THE SPREAD.
Larry Blumhagen, Vice President/Market Manager, Cumulus San Francisco, said: “810 THE SPREAD joins our sports brands KNBR 680AM/104.5FM and 1050 KTCT for a trifecta of dynamic sports content across four signals and streaming everywhere. We are excited about this new chapter and look forward to serving the Bay Area’s passionate sports fans in an incomparable way.”
Blumhagen added: “This is a bittersweet day for us, as it’s hard to say goodbye to the legendary KGO, which has been a part of listeners’ lives for so many years. We want to thank all the people who have been a part of KGO’s historic run these many years – and the listeners who loyally tuned in to the station. Times change, and we must change with them.”
Kevin Graham, Program Director, 810 THE SPREAD, said: “810 THE SPREAD will be the Bay Area’s best bet for sports fans and sports betting enthusiasts, and we are pleased to introduce sports-betting radio to our community. The station will feature a lineup of expert personalities that deliver unique sports talk and sports betting insights that entertain, inform, and engage, along with Cal Football and Basketball as well as select professional and college sports play-by-play events. While 810 THE SPREAD will feature specific gambling information, we believe our entertaining presentation will make it a favorite for all Bay area sports fans and a perfect complement to the legendary KNBR and KTCT. With its addition, it truly shows Cumulus’ commitment to the Bay area as ‘The Sports Leader’!”
The weekday programming lineup for 810 THE SPREAD includes:
6am-9am – Bet QL Daily – The must-consume show for sports fans and betting fans alike. Hosted by Joe Ostrowski, Joe Giglio, and Erin Hawksworth.
9am-12pm – Jim Rome - Aggressive, informed sports opinions, rapid-fire dialogue, and plenty of sports smack. As one of the most prolific sports talk hosts in America, Rome draws massive tune-in with legions of fans known as clones, who live for Rome’s take on the day’s largest issues in sports.
12pm-4pm – You Better You Bet – Nick Kostos and Ken Barkley have you covered for the best bets on the biggest matchups, the latest line movement and updates in the futures market. We’ll have up-to-the-minute coverage of backdoor covers and bad beats, and the cheers and tears that come with them. It’s sports betting conversation like you’ve never heard before.
4pm-8pm – Bet MGM Tonight – Live sports betting updates for all the night’s games as they happen – plus live “look-ins” for Major League Baseball games in progress. Get the latest scores, sides, totals, props, parlays, futures, and much more with hosts Quinton Mayo, Trysta Krick, and Ryan Horvat.
8pm-12 Midnight – CBS Sports Radio
BetQL Network programming is provided by Cumulus Media’s Westwood One through a partnership with Audacy.
For more information or to stream 810 THE SPREAD, visit: http://www.810thespread.com.
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