The Greek gambling group OPAP SA revealed its lottery business is underperforming by 16%, attributable to weak retail trading conditions during the winter due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Publishing its nine-month management performance statement, the Athens-listed gambling group registered a 16% decrease in its lottery business operations on the same period last year, generating YTD sales of €365.3m, down from €436.6m as a result of Greek winter COVID-19 retail restrictions.
However, the group remains positive on a lottery comeback as Q3 trading saw sales equal last year’s figure of €179m.
Similarly, video lottery terminal revenues totalled €120.6m, a 26% decrease on 2020’s results of €168.4m, as the division was impacted by store closures and operating on fewer days.
OPAP noted a 15.4% increase in corporate revenues to €1.04bn, largely aided by its newly integrated Stoiximan assets.
Additionally, OPAP’s betting division year-to-date sales increased by 55.6% to €355.3m compared to the same point last year when year-to-date revenue was €228.4m, with Stoiximan generating €175m.
Furthermore, the Greek Group multiplied its online casino revenues by three to €138m from 2020’s figure of €42m.
Excluding Stoiximan contributions, group GGR performance declined by 15% to YTD €763m.
In the year to date, operating expenses have increased by 47% €268m, owing to Stoiximan integration costs and a 76% increase in marketing expenditure to support its lottery re-openings and Euro 2020 campaigns.
Despite this, the firm’s Gross Profit from gaming operations stood at €450.6m for the year-to-date, an increase of 33.2% year-on-year.
As a result, OPAP’s year-to-date EBITDA stands at €379.9m, up 83% on 2020 results of €207m.
“OPAP’s Q3 results affirm our ability to sustain a strong financial performance while implementing key initiatives of our Fast Forward Strategy,” commented Group CEO Jana Karas.
“Retail resilience and continuing online growth, clearly aided by Stoiximan’s contribution, were the key drivers. During the quarter, we tapped the benefits of our recently launched loyalty program, which is key to further digitalising our offering.”
“We remain committed to delivering an even more entertaining customer experience across all our channels, so as to promote OPAP’s long-term growth.”