The first quarter of 2023 has been tumultuous for the stock market, with several iGaming companies experiencing significant share declines.
From large operators to small suppliers, iGaming NEXT has taken a closer look at some of the biggest stock price losers in Q1.
BetMakers Technology Group
BetMakers Technology Group is currently experiencing a challenging period, with its share price plummeting by more than 42% between 1 January and 31 March 2023.The company’s 12-month share price decline of 68.8% is also indicative of more significant challenges.
BetMakers is currently not generating a profit and reported a loss of AU$89m in the 2022 financial year, followed by a loss of A$11.8m in the first half of financial year 2023.
Earlier this year, BetMakers had cautioned that its investment in growth opportunities during the first half of the current financial year would result in negative earnings for the full year.
BetMakers invested in betting venture Betr together with News Corp and Tekkorp.
Several management changes and a commitment to cost reduction followed the profit warning.
In March, bookmaker and investor Tom Waterhouse sold down his VC vehicle’s shareholding in the company and is no longer a substantial shareholder.
Nevertheless, BetMakers intends to move towards generating positive cash flow and position itself to take advantage of organic and inorganic growth in the next 18 months.
Most recently, the supplier further streamlined its organisational structure, removing the CEO position in the US.
However, executive chairman Matt Davey, who himself is based in Las Vegas, told iGaming NEXT that the US remains an incredibly important market for the company and “we continue to invest in our technology and operations” there.
PointsBet
Shareholders of Australian sports betting operator PointsBet have experienced a rough ride in the stock market lately, with the share price down 19% over the first three months of 2023.
However, this figure pales in comparison to the decline of the past 12 months, which stands at 58.9%.
However, this growth was overshadowed by a rise in cash burn and negative cash flow, climbing from A$60.7m to A$75.7m sequentially, driven by higher marketing costs and reduced profit margins.
Despite these setbacks, the US has become PointsBet’s largest market. In fact, the US market alone accounted for a notable 68% year-on-year increase in total net win, reaching A$40.6m. Meanwhile, the Australian net win only rose by 9% to A$57.7m.
In December 2022, PointsBet announced that it was in early negotiations with News Corp-backed betting start-up Betr over a potential sale of its Australian business.
Although the company declined to comment on the discussions, CEO Sam Swanell said he expects the company to grow this year while also remaining EBITDA positive in Australia.
He also believes the operator can increase trading margins to 4% or higher, with low-margin products such as tennis head-to-head bets generating significant turnover in the last quarter.
Meanwhile, Entain has entered the takeover stage and is reportedly in discussions to acquire PointsBet’s Australian arm.
According to various sources, the London-listed operator is currently working on a potential bid, though the company has not made any official announcement yet.
888
It has been a horrible quarter for shareholders of 888. The stock was down 41% in Q1 2023 and more than 74% over the past 12 months.
In March, the Gibraltar-based operator was removed from the mid-cap 250 and 350 indexes as part of the London Stock Exchange’s latest index rebalancing due to its poor performance.
The operator hit the headlines on January 30 when an internal compliance investigation resulted in the sudden departure of CEO Itai Pazner, causing the company’s share price to drop by 27% in a single day.As part of the investigation, 888 suspended VIP activities in some dot com markets due to failures in following best practices for Know Your Client (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) processes for VIP customers in the Middle East.
CFO Yariv Dafna was also set to leave after the publication of the company’s full-year 2022 financial results in March but agreed to stay on until the end of 2023 after Pazner’s departure.
888 acquired significant debt as a result of its acquisition of William Hill, which according to analyst Ivor Jones could prevent the company from meeting its target net debt/EBITDA range of 2-3x until 2026.