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Affiliate Monitor Company-by-company Q2 results analysis
the potential of new casino brands entering the space that particularly excited his company .
“ It is our view that there will be many , many more operators that enter the fray in the US , especially as more states regulate casinos ,” he argued .
“ On the casino side , it ’ s not so difficult to set up an online casino . You need a brand , a bit of software , customer service , it doesn ’ t have to be this enormously expensive capital expenditure exercise . We ’ ve seen for years operators in Europe stand up online casino brands without crazy amounts of investment .”
He said this would lead to a “ next wave of operators ” bringing more experience on the digital marketing side versus unlimited amounts of capital .
“ And they will have reasonable market share and profitable businesses in our opinion ,” he suggested . “ And again , that ’ s really an online casino kind of opportunity , more so than sports betting .”
Indeed , Gillespie pointed out that Gambling . com Group is particularly set up for casino players , noting the recent purchase of the casinos . com domain .
“ I consider casinos . com to be the single most desirable domain name in the industry for a performance marketing company such as ours ,” he said . “ We will continue to develop casinos . com . With our well-honed playbook of
“ There will be many , many more operators that enter the fray in the US , especially as more states regulate [ online ] casinos ”
CHARLES GILLESPIE , GAMBLING . COM GROUP CEO
best-in-class content and precision digital marketing , we remain highly confident that casinos . com can be established alongside gambling . com as a powerhouse international flagship brand .”
THIS IS THE WORLD CALLING
Of course , Gambling . com Group ’ s roots lie in the UK and European markets . “ Our continued strong growth in the UK and Ireland is an often overlooked dynamic of our business ,” Gillespie said .
The dynamic of the UK market is different , he added , pointing out that the more mature markets produce users who are “ more sophisticated , picky and promiscuous ”. He said against this backdrop , performance marketing partners were “ increasingly critical to operators and their ability to attract new players ”.
THAT ’ S A BONUS
The acquisition of Bonusfinder has clearly been an additional boost for Gambling . com Group with Gillespie noting it had “ consistently outperformed our expectations since we acquired the business in early 2022 ”.
Indeed , such has been the success of the deal that in order to “ accelerate the realisation of all potential synergies ” from the deal the company has negotiated and agreed to a final deferred compensation arrangement in a fixed amount of € 18m in exchange for the early termination of the earnout period .
Asked about further M & A , Gillespie stuck to the line that the company had a good pipeline of potential deals . “ We ’ ve got lots of conversations happening at the moment ,” he said .
“ There ’ s been a few new things that have entered the scope of what we are considering . I ’ d be hopeful that we ’ ll be able to announce something , not imminently , but assuming these conversations go well , over the next six , nine months .
He noted that the company had the balance sheet to do deals , adding “ that ’ s the purpose of our cash , to enable us to take on the right M & A opportunity when the stars line up .
“ But as ever we are super picky . We ’ re not going to do a deal just to do a deal . We ’ ll walk away from any deal for a number of reasons . We can grow this business without M & A as we are demonstrating every single quarter . So , for us to pull the trigger , it ’ s got to really pass all the tests .” iGB Affiliate Monitor