GiG has praised a year of growth as it continues to build on acquisitions as a period of ‘transformation’ enabled the firm to achieve record revenue for its rebranded standalone media business Gentoo Media.
Addressing investors, Group CEO Richard Carter emphasised that the firm has had major success within its strategic enablers.
In a 14th consecutive year of record revenue, Q2 revealed that Gentoo Media generated €30m of revenue, up 39% from 2023 comparatives of €22m.
Carter also detailed that he believes operation execution will continue to gain traction and recurring revenue growth will continue to elevate amidst a sea of successful enablers for the company.
One of these is the SweepX social casino platform, which according to Carter has had a major impact on the firm’s total addressable market and will begin to gain revenue in the second half of the year.
Success of the firm and the growth of the group was significantly enriched by their M&A strategy as completed AskGamblers and KaFe Rocks deals provided an uplift for the group.
This trend is set to continue for the group as it benefits from Titan SEO and the heritage online gambling player community CasinoMeister in the second half of the year.
The group updated investors that it is taking a meticulous approach when it comes to domains and new acquisitions, as it ensures it enters new markets in the most effective possible way.
The group’s dependency on ‘exotic markets’ continues to decline as well, as it bolsters growth in North America and Europe. In terms of the CasinoMeister brand, the group emphasised that the opportunity was simply too good to pass up.
There is a real belief that within the next few years, the casinomeister brand will become one of the group’s flagship brands.
GiG Chairman Mikael Riese Harstad, also provided an outlook on the state of the sweepstake market as he revealed that having signed up one of the largest land based casino operators to its SweepX platform, the group also revealed that there is a significant appetite from remote operators to be involved in the digital sweepstake space.
Harstad emphasised that the company hopes to take advantage of the ‘big opportunity’ within the sweepstake market, as it isn’t an opportunity exclusive to the US, believing that sweepstake opportunities will open up in other regions.
Harstad continued on the group’s performance: “It is with this confidence that I am happy to announce the finalisation of our strategic split into two separate listed entities: Gentoo Media (formerly GiG Media) and GiG Platform. This split is now set to be completed by the end of September 2024.”
“I am fully confident that both companies will flourish as independent entities, each continuing to lead and innovate within their respective areas of focus.”
Overall GiG’s divested Platform & Sportsbook business registered a 21% decline in revenues to €7.3m (Q2 2023: €9m).
Revenue declines were anticipated as the divested Platform & Sportsbook business has changed its auditing structure under IFRS rules.
Harstad concluded: “The second quarter of 2024 has truly been one of significant achievement and strategic progress. As we move forward with the final steps of our strategic split, Petter Nylander, Chairman of Platform & Sportsbook, and I are confident that both Gentoo Media and Platform & Sportsbook will continue to grow, innovate, and deliver value to our shareholders like never before.”
“Despite the many changes in external market conditions and internal organisation, GiG has always remained steadfast in its commitment to its core values.
“At the heart of our company lies a deep passion for igaming—we live and breathe the excitement, strategy, and dynamics of this ever-evolving industry. While others may chase trends, we have always trusted that our deep expertise, state-of-the-art technical infrastructure and data-driven approach will yield long-term success.”
Betfred has appointed Nick Cockerill as their new Chief Product Officer to help elevate the brand’s online business.
The former VP of Product for Stats Perform brings over 10 years of sports betting and igaming experience to Betfred, having previously worked in senior product and technology roles at Sky Betting and Gaming, Pokerstars International and Flutter Entertainment, before joining Stats Perform in 2021.
In addition to elevating the brand’s online business, Cockerill will be tasked with enhancing Betfred’s retail offering and accelerating the transition of the operator into a technology-first organisation.
“I’m delighted to join Betfred at such an important and exciting time in their history,” commented Cockerill on his new role.
“Betfred is one of the UK’s strongest brands in the sector and I’m looking forward to working with the excellent team here to elevate Betfred to where it should be as one of the top online bookmakers in the UK and advancing our leadership in retail.”
Joanne Whittaker, CEO of Betfred, added: “Nick joins with a wealth of experience and has an excellent track record in the sector. His appointment is key to our huge ambitions for Betfred.”
At Stats Perform, Cockerill was central to the launch of ‘Instant Highlights’, which is used by many sportsbooks globally. He also helped with the launch of Runningball for tennis and Dynamic Betting Stats API.
Runningball for tennis offers data for tennis trading, while Dynamic Betting Stats API is a platform that allows sportsbooks to easily interact with Opta data for players and team stats markets, bet-builders and same-game multis.
At Sky Betting & Gaming, Cockerill led the Core and Payments product teams between 2014 to 2018, growing the team and supporting the operator’s international and in-house technology expansion. He led the product and design teams for the build of their greenfield international sportsbook following the acquisition of the business by Pokerstars.
