Zeal Network has announced its financial results for the first half of 2024. Overall, the lottery products provider's revenue rose 40% year-on-year to €76.8 million ($83.9 million), with EBITDA of €20.1 million, up 46%.
The number of new customers increased significantly, up 70% year-on-year. Revenues from Zeal's lottery business were also on the rise, rising 33% to €68 million.
Lottery
Zeal's core lottery business accounted for 88.5% of Zeal Networks' first-half revenue, with annual revenue rising 33%, driven in part by a 21% increase in average monthly customer numbers, totaling 1,353,000. Zeal's average bill revenue per active customer rose 2% to €62.48 per person, with total bill revenue up 23% to €507.1 million - in line with growth in the number of monthly customers and increases in their average spend.
The company said lottery gross margin rose to 13.4 percent from 12.5 percent last year due to "changes in product mix and further optimization of profit margins."
gamble
Zeal's gaming business launches in June 2023, so year-over-year comparisons are not currently available. However, the industry has been growing from Q1 to Q2 of 2024.
Grand Prize
Jackpot players grew 70% year over year to 592,000. This was helped by a reduction in customer acquisition costs, which fell 26% to a cost per lead (CPL) of €33.20. This was offset by an increase in marketing expenses, which increased by 28% to €25.5 million, and direct operating costs and operating expenses, which also increased to €8.6 million and €42.8 million respectively, representing year-on-year increases of 59.3% and 35.4%.
recent activities
On August 1, Zeal launched the charity lottery Traumhausverlosung, giving German players the chance to win a fully furnished home. Zeal also announced its latest leadership changes during the first half, with Supervisory Board Chairman Peter Steiner set to leave the company in 2025 after 12 years. Zeal also reported that the company is seeking candidates to replace board member Frank Strauß, who passed away in May 2024.
Performance
Regarding the results, Zeal Chief Financial Officer Sebastian Bielski said: "The strong growth in revenue and EBITDA reflects our excellent operating performance. We are particularly pleased that we have acquired more than 500,000 new customers since the beginning of the year."
"In the first half of this year, we not only achieved extraordinary new customer acquisition success, but also our new customer acquisition efficiency was particularly high due to a significant reduction in the acquisition cost per registered new customer. This is due to our continued investment in brand development in recent years."
