Online gambling industry enjoys annual growth of 9% – but growth rates are declining across all segments/ verticals

Comprehensive 2014 report analysing updated benchmarks, KPIs, margins, … of the online gambling industry

London/Munich, July 18, 2014 – The online gambling industry is more and more grown up, and like other industries, it now has to contend daily with increased competition and pressure on margins. Accordingly, ca. 75% of industry executives stated in a recent survey that the focus of their work in the future will be on improving existing operations rather than on exploring new revenue sources. Therefore, MECN now provides the tools for operational excellence with the 2014/2015 edition of its comprehensive benchmarking report analysing business figures, KPIs, relevant margins, … of the online gambling industry.

Declining growth rates across all segments/verticals
In 2013 the online gambling industry, at least the large sample of key operators analysed in MECN‘s report Online Gambling Benchmarking, apparently enjoyed an average overall revenue growth (compared to 2012) of 9%. But the growth rate suffered a decrease compared to 2012 when the average growth rate was still an impressive 21%. The phenomenon of decreasing growth rates was seen across all segments/verticals, even in online casinos where the average growth rate fell from 21% in 2012 to a meagre 4% in 2013.

Maybe it’s time for an increased focus on costs and operations
However, after years of explosive growth, this „normal“ growth rate and increased pressure on profit margins might seem to some in the industry a severe hit. In our view, though, the online gambling industry is „just“ now all grown up, and like other industries, it has to contend daily with increased competition, pressure on margins, …

It’s therefore understandable that ca. 75% of industry executives stated in a recent survey that in future they will focus primarily on improving existing operations rather than on exploring new revenue sources. Clearly, Martin Oelbermann, co-author of the study explains, „The basis for operational excellence is a comprehensive analysis and benchmarking of key performance indicators, business figures, and relevant margins“.

Comprehensive report analysing updated benchmarks, KPIs, margins, … of the online gambling industry
MECN‘s researchers took several months to compile and analyse a wealth of current as well as historical business data and KPIs and have now published the 2014/2015 edition of its benchmarking report on the online gambling industry. The report is a must-read for all strategists and executives in the industry who want to save time and money compiling their own database. For those outside the industry the report is the go-to resource for all relevant business data needed to evaluate business plans, investment opportunities, …

The 2014/2015 report offers unprecedented insights into the industry:

  • Current data and historical data – The benchmark analyses are based on the most recent annual data and also trace long-term developments as far back as 2007.
  • Revenue growth benchmarks are broken down by products/verticals.
  • Analyses of financial results,such as EBITDA, EBIT, … including comparison of margins.
  • Expense/costs benchmarks and margins, such as marketing, bonuses, CPA, IT, R&D, staff costs, chargebacks, …
  • Player/customer-related benchmarks, such as active player development, ARPU (also broken down by products/verticals), churn rates, …
  • Product-related benchmarks, such as product/vertical split, cross-selling, number of bets placed, breakdown of betting revenues by type of sport , …
  • Live betting benchmarks,such as live betting’s share of total revenue, live betting gross revenue margins, …
  • Mobile business benchmarks, such as share of total online business, number of mobile players, betting revenue per player, …
  • Geographical analyses,such as the level of internationalization and geographical diversification.
  • In total, the report has 116 pages and 176 graphs/exhibits.

The study can be obtained at www.mecn.net