Game Developer Evolution’s Revenues For Q3 2021 In Asia Grew By 120.4 Per Cent YoY

The live dealer casino giant successfully meets rising demand for its core business, with financial results backed up by the recent venture in the RNG business. Geographically, Asia stands out as a major revenue generator registering substantial growth.

Revenues and profits rise pushed by live casino vertical growth

Evolution AB reported a 97 per cent growth year-on-year (YoY) in operating revenues for the third quarter of 2021 to € 276 million compared to Q3 2020’s € 140 million. EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation) grew by 113 per cent to € 192.9 million compared to the figure from last year’s quarter ending on September 30 of € 90.7 million, increasing the margin from 64.8 per cent in Q3 2020 to 69.9 per cent now.

The company attributes the growth largely to the very strong global demand for its Live Casino vertical which accounts for € 214.5 million or 77.7 per cent of the operating revenues, generating a YoY growth of 53.2 per cent. The incessant launching of successful new games and variations of traditional game titles brought significant increases in incomes from commission mostly from existing customers, but also from new ones.

The RNG (Random Number Generator) games sector brought in € 61.5 million in revenues for Q3 2021, marking a growth by 7.9 per cent over pro-forma figures for Q3 2020 when Evolution did not report any revenues from the RNG vertical because the acquisitions of

NetEnt and BTG (Big Time Gaming) had not gone through at that time yet.

Asia brings the highest nominal rise in revenue

The Evolution AB operating revenues broken down by geographical region show the ‘Rest of Europe’ and Asia as the highest contributors generating € 103.2 and 76.7 million respectively. While the ‘Rest of Europe’ region grew by 57.3 per cent YoY rising nominally with € 37.6 million from the € 65.6 million generated in Q3 2020, Asia registered the highest nominal raise of € 41.9 million growing by 120.4 per cent from the € 34.8 million reported for last year’s third quarter.

The highest relative growths in operating revenues were recorded by the Nordics region which grew by 236.2 per cent to € 19.5 million from Q3 2020’s € 5.8 million, and by the region of North America which generated 246.7 per cent more revenues YoY rising from € 9.2 million to € 31.9 million.

The online RMG segment in India expected to keep growing

A recently published primary report by global financial consultants KPMG estimated that the real money games online market in India will generate a total of ₹ 4,980 crore (roughly € 564,5 million) during the Financial Year of 2021. The paper expects the Indian online RMG sector to grow further by 23.1 per cent to ₹ 6,130 crore (€ 707.5 million) by the Fiscal Year of 2025.

Estimates by KPMG on the whole online gaming market in India project FY 2021 total revenues at ₹ 13,600 crore (€ 1.57 billion) to be generated by 433 million users, and envisage a 113.2 per cent growth in revenues to ₹ 29,000 crore (€ 3.35 billion) and a 51.7 per cent growth in user base to 657 million people.

Another recent report by online casino experts Esse N Videri (ENV) Media defines South-East Asia as decisively “game-friendly” and one of the “focal jurisdictions for the industry.” The paper continues that “the growth in mobile use, internet coverage and speed, and the popularity of hybrid genres like fantasy sports and social gaming have facilitated monetization and opened up legalization possibilities where previously the gaming sector had failed to make a breakthrough.”

Evolution acquisitions its way into RNG games sector

Live casino game expert Evolution AB completed two acquisitions of RNG game developers within the course of a year. In December 2020, the € 1.91 billion deal for the purchase of slot giant NetEnt was completed and a massive reorganization scheme of the acquired enterprise was initiated. Evolution management assumed operational responsibility over NetEnt’s business benefiting from the interim support of former NetEnt CEO Therese Hillman.

In June 2021, another transaction was completed for the purchase of the shares of Big Time Gaming Pty Ltd in a deal combining cash and shares in Evolution. The signing of the initial agreement for the acquisition of the whole issued BTG share capital was announced on April 12 and full regulatory approval was obtained by June 30.