INSIGHT
THE EVOLUTION
OF LIVE CASINO:
FROM NICHE PRODUCT TO
MAINSTREAM SUCCESS
Live casino has come a long way from its Asian roots, with recent results from European operators
showing it has become an increasingly important vertical. Scott Longley reports
ONE OF THE SUCCESS STORIES
of recent years for the online gambling
product set has been live casino.
The product’s popularity has grown
in conjunction with an increased
technological capability, both desktop and
mobile, and with the greater acceptance of
the format among consumers globally.
The evidence for this comes from
Evolution Gaming, a leading supplier
that’s a listed entity in Stockholm. The
company’s results statements have been
providing a running commentary on the
pace of growth of the format and the
increasing take-up in particular of mobile
live casino.
According to its 2016 annual report,
total operating revenues soared from
€31.3m (£26.5m) in 2012 to €115m in the
last financial year. Its EBITDA increased
by an even bigger factor, up from €11.1m
in 2012 to €44.6m last year.
In the introduction to the results,
chief executive Martin Carlesund
proclaimed that a heady cocktail of new
licensees, incremental growth from current
customers, the openings presented by
newly regulated markets and, of course,
product enhancements were responsible
for the 50% rise in revenues in the previous
12 months.
As witnessed by figures from the second
quarter of 2017 (the latest available),
growth has continued in 2017: revenues
for Q2 were up 56% to €42.3m and
EBITDA rose over 80% to €19.2m (the
EBITDA margin rose six points to 45%).
At the time of the annual results, Paul
Leyland, analyst and founding partner at
gambling consultancy Regulus Partners,
said the 2016 figures demonstrated the
continued and growing importance of live
casino products and Evolution’s leadership
within the European space.
A changing product
Live casino’s success is down to its
ability to introduce players to online
casino and is the “closest thing players
get to walking into and playing games in
a brick-and-mortar property, but within
the private and comfortable confines of a
player’s own personal space,” according
to Kevin Kilminster, head of live casino
innovation at Playtech.
For Ed Ihre, chief executive at the
largely live casino-focused operator
Codeta, the product has answered one
of the demands caused by the rise of
online — customers have begun to
“According to Evolution Gaming’s 2016 annual report, total
operating revenues soared from €31.3m (£26.5m) in
2012 to €115m in the last financial year, with EBITDA up
by an even bigger factor, from €11.1m in 2012 to €44.6m”
“Significantly, live is now migrating
well to mobile, with nearly half of
Evolution’s revenues from mobile channels
– and over half for leading licensees,”
he said. “This is now broadly similar to
the mobile penetration of NetEnt,
a slots-led content provider.”
demand a more engaging experience
to match the capability of the technology
now at hand.
“They no longer want to play in
isolation, they want to sit down at a real
gaming table, interact with a human dealer,
and play with actual cards,” he says.
iGB Affiliate Issue 65 OCT/NOV 2017
75