Latest News
Q&A with Phil Parry CEO of Iforium
Reading Time: 3 minutes
As the CEEGC gets underway today, our Lead Stage Sponsor, Phil Parry, CEO of Iforium, sits down with us to talk through his plans for the CEE Gaming scene and the importance of responsible aggregation.
What are you looking forward to at CEEGC?
We’re great fans of the CEEGC – it’s one of the must-attend gaming conferences on the Central and Eastern European calendar – and we’ve been proud attendees since its launch in 2016.
We’re delighted to be a sponsor, and we see it as a great opportunity to catch up with our partners as well as making new friends. We’ve enjoyed every year immensely and are looking forward to progressing with our on-going partnership discussions as well as catching up with the latest in CEE’s fast-developing regulatory environment.
What lies ahead for the CEE Gaming scene?
Central and Eastern Europe is a very exciting growth region for us. We’re already live with several operators here and see it as a great place to be doing business.
Slovakia and the 16 German Länder will likely occupy the headlines in the months ahead as everyone waits for their markets to go live and decide on a sustainable regulatory framework.
We’ve had fantastic success in CEE on behalf of our operator partners; ensuring stringent regulatory compliance while delivering a seamless player experience is always a balancing act; and one which we do best given our experience as one of the industry’s leading aggregators.
Each market has different regulatory requirements, and the challenge for operators is to ensure they can be compliant in each jurisdiction they are active in, while offering games from the industry’s most popular content providers and the best value proposition for players – which we do for them.
What innovation will capture the most attention in 2019?
While there’s plenty of noise around blockchain, aggregated jackpots, and split screen game play to name a few trends – a lot of this risks being window dressing. For us, it’s all about data, the processing of data and the player personalisation and communications that follow – those who master this will be the ones to watch.
At Iforium, we’ve worked hard over the last year on our event driven architecture to provide a real time data stream of player behavior for our operators. Introduce and apply machine learning on top and you’re onto a winner.
What can CEE aggregators do to better improve the process between regulators and content providers?
It goes without saying that today’s environment is a million miles away from the regulatory wild west of the early 2000s. With such a developed environment that we see now, the challenge for today’s operators is to identify the markets that are profitable while finding ways to negotiate the complex web of rules and specifications required of them at every turn.
In Iforium’s case, our Gameflex platform acts as a bridge between multiple content providers. As the middleman, we ensure this is ‘sanitised’ in that all content meets the regulatory demands of whichever market it is required to operate in. Where appropriate, we also overlay our regulatory solution specific to the jurisdiction and local requirements needed to operate. Looking to the future; I believe this will be expected of every aggregator – taking such solutions from ‘nice-to-have’ to a ‘must-have’ requirement to operate.
Any lessons learned that you’d like to share with others?
For operators, each time they enter a new CEE market or there’s a new regulatory change, the key is having a system – an architecture that can permit that change. What we’ve been doing over several years is trying to take a level of control over all these different elements involved in multiple platforms and content providers who are all trying to solve the same problem.
As an aggregator, our objective and our belief is that we can provide a significant level of control over that process by innovating on our own platform. This is compelling for our suppliers and our operator partners, because Iforium and its systems can deliver in line with the complex network of regulations we see emerging across CEE today.
Source: Latest News on European Gaming Media Network
This is a Syndicated News piece. Photo credits or photo sources can be found on the source article: Q&A with Phil Parry CEO of Iforium

Latest News
Sportradar Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Results and Announces Agreement to Acquire IMG Arena and Its Strategic Portfolio of Global Sports Betting Rights
Sportradar Group AG (NASDAQ: SRAD) (“Sportradar” or the “Company”), a leading global sports technology company focused on creating immersive experiences for sports fans and bettors, today announced financial results for its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2024.
Carsten Koerl, Chief Executive Officer of Sportradar, said: “We are pleased with our strong execution in 2024, achieving record revenue, operating margins and free cash flow generation. Importantly, we continued to build on our key competitive advantages including enhancing the depth and breadth of our content portfolio and further innovating on our product offerings. On the content front, with the extension and expansion of our Major League Baseball partnership, we now have all our existing major rights locked in for an average of six years, providing us with great cost visibility. And with the announced agreement to acquire IMG ARENA’s sports rights portfolio, we will further enhance our sports coverage in some of the most bet on sports globally. This past year we also grew our product offering, launching a number of award-winning products that expand our best-in class product suite and bring fans closer to their favorite sports. Importantly, as we grow our topline, we are at an inflection point for multi-year margin expansion and increasing cash flow, positioning us to deliver meaningful shareholder value for years to come.”
FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL YEAR REVENUE BY PRODUCT GROUP
Revenue
Three-Month Period Ended December 31, |
Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||||||||||||
in € thousands (unaudited) | 2024 | 2023 | Change | % | 2024 | 2023 | Change | % | |||||||||||
Revenue by product | |||||||||||||||||||
Betting & Gaming Content | 191,783 | 147,747 | 44,036 | 30 | % | 707,119 | 530,099 | 177,020 | 33 | % | |||||||||
Managed Betting Services | 55,145 | 55,870 | (725 | ) | (1 | )% | 199,871 | 173,391 | 26,480 | 15 | % | ||||||||
Betting Technology & Solutions | 246,928 | 203,617 | 43,311 | 21 | % | 906,990 | 703,490 | 203,500 | 29 | % | |||||||||
Marketing & Media Services | 44,282 | 36,445 | 7,837 | 22 | % | 146,919 | 126,629 | 20,290 | 16 | % | |||||||||
Sports Performance | 11,051 | 10,608 | 443 | 4 | % | 40,366 | 39,758 | 608 | 2 | % | |||||||||
Integrity Services | 4,809 | 1,916 | 2,893 | 151 | % | 12,281 | 7,744 | 4,537 | 59 | % | |||||||||
Sports Content, Technology & Services | 60,142 | 48,969 | 11,173 | 23 | % | 199,566 | 174,131 | 25,435 | 15 | % | |||||||||
Total Revenue | 307,070 | 252,586 | 54,484 | 22 | % | 1,106,556 | 877,621 | 228,935 | 26 | % | |||||||||
Revenue by geography | |||||||||||||||||||
Rest of World | 232,298 | 199,738 | 32,560 | 16 | % | 843,791 | 711,613 | 132,178 | 19 | % | |||||||||
United States | 74,772 | 52,848 | 21,924 | 41 | % | 262,765 | 166,008 | 96,757 | 58 | % | |||||||||
Total Revenue | 307,070 | 252,586 | 1,106,556 | 877,621 |
FULL YEAR FINANCIAL RESULTS
Revenue
Total revenue for the full year was €1,107 million, up €229 million, or 26% year-over-year driven by 29% growth in Betting Technology & Solutions and 15% growth in Sports Content, Technology & Services.
Betting Technology & Solutions revenues of €907 million were up 29% year-over-year primarily driven by a 33% increase in Betting & Gaming Content benefiting from existing and new customer uptake of products and premium pricing from NBA and new ATP product offerings, as well as from overall strong U.S. market growth. Managed Betting Services of €200 million were up 15% driven by strong growth in Managed Trading Services from higher trading margins and increased betting activity from existing and new clients.
Sports Content, Technology & Services revenues of €200 million increased 15% year-over-year primarily driven by 16% growth in Marketing & Media Services with strength in both European and North American ad:s revenue, with a variety of sportsbooks investing in marketing campaigns during the year.
The Company generated strong revenue growth globally with Rest of World up 19% and the United States up 58%. As a percentage of total Company revenues, United States revenue represented 24% of total Company revenue for the full year as compared to 19% in the prior year due to continued market growth, additional customer uptake of our products and premium pricing.
Profit for the period
Profit for the full year was €34 million, in line with the prior year. The strong operating results were primarily offset by a foreign currency loss of €38 million for the full year compared to a €23 million gain last year, due to unrealized currency fluctuations associated with the U.S. dollar-denominated sport rights. The current year also included higher financing costs due primarily to our new ATP, NBA and Bundesliga partnership deals, as well as an income tax benefit of €11 million driven primarily by the recognition of deferred tax assets.
Adjusted EBITDA
Full year Adjusted EBITDA was €222 million, up €56 million, or 33% compared to €167 million in the prior year. The increase was largely driven by the 26% revenue growth, partially offset by increased sport rights costs primarily related to the NBA and ATP partnership deals, higher purchased services driven by investments in developing our product portfolio and increased personnel expenses primarily due to headcount growth and a higher bonus accrual in the current year.
FOURTH QUARTER FINANCIAL RESULTS
Revenue
Total revenue for the fourth quarter was €307 million, up €54 million, or 22% year-over-year driven by 21% growth in Betting Technology & Solutions and 23% growth in Sports Content, Technology & Services.
Betting Technology & Solutions revenues of €247 million were up 21% year-over-year primarily driven by a 30% increase in Betting & Gaming Content benefiting from existing and new customer uptake of our products and premium pricing, led by the addition of new ATP content, as well as from overall strong U.S. market growth. Managed Betting Services revenues of €55 million were down 1% as strong growth in Managed Trading Services from higher trading margins and increased betting activity from existing and new clients was more than offset by the impact a year ago from the one-time initial setup revenues related to hardware deliveries for the new Taiwan Lottery deal.
Sports Content, Technology & Services revenues of €60 million increased 23% year-over-year primarily driven by 22% growth in Marketing & Media Services with strength in both European and North American ad:s revenue as several sportsbooks invested in marketing campaigns during the quarter.
The Company generated strong revenue growth globally with Rest of World up 16% and the United States up 41%. As a percentage of total Company revenues, United States revenue represented 24% of total Company revenue in the fourth quarter as compared to 21% in the prior year quarter due to continued market growth, additional customer uptake of our products and premium pricing.
Customer Net Retention Rate of 127% increased sequentially and from prior year demonstrating our ability to cross sell and up sell to our clients, as well as the market growth in the United States.
Loss for the period
Loss for the period was €1 million, down €24 million, compared to profit of €23 million in the same quarter a year ago, as the strong operating results were more than offset primarily by a foreign currency loss of €38 million in the quarter as compared to a €27 million gain last year, due to unrealized currency fluctuations mainly associated with the U.S. dollar-denominated sport rights. The current quarter also included higher financing costs due primarily to our new ATP and Bundesliga partnership deals, as well as an income tax benefit of €20 million driven primarily by the recognition of deferred tax assets.
Adjusted EBITDA
Fourth quarter Adjusted EBITDA was €61 million, up €21 million, or 53% compared to €40 million in the same quarter a year ago. The increase was largely driven by the 22% revenue growth, partially offset by increased sport rights costs primarily related to the ATP partnership deal, higher purchased services driven by investments in developing our product portfolio and increased personnel expenses primarily due to headcount growth and a higher bonus accrual in the current year.
Additional Business Highlights
- Announced the extension and expansion of our partnership with Major League Baseball (“MLB”) for 8 years, beginning with the 2025 season. Sportradar will exclusively distribute ultra-low latency official MLB data, media content, including MLB Statcast Data, and audiovisual content across our global client network. Additionally, Sportradar and MLB will collaborate on the creation of AI-driven products powered by player tracking data to create immersive, hyper-personalized fan experiences.
- Announced the extension and expansion of our partnership with UEFA covering all UEFA Club and National team competitions, which includes over 900 high-profile matches, a 33% increase from the previous agreement.
- Announced a new long-term partnership with UTR Sports for the UTR Pro Tennis tour, the top tennis tour for rising professionals. Tennis is the second most bet on sport and UTR provides Sportradar with a consistently high volume of tennis matches throughout the year.
- In partnership with the NBA, launched a suite of next generation products and solutions for the 2024 – 2025 season including 4Sight Streaming, emBET, Live Match Tracker and advanced visualizations.
- Introduced micro markets for ATP tennis and basketball, expanding this cutting-edge product to tennis from other popular sports such as soccer and table tennis.
- Enhanced ad:s marketing services providing the most comprehensive 360 degree solution for customers with the launches of new channels including paid search and audio, and the addition of affiliate marketing capabilities through XLMedia.
- Opened an office in São Paulo, Brazil, marking a major milestone in Sportradar’s strategic expansion into that country and across Latin America.
Balance Sheet and Liquidity
The Company’s cash and cash equivalents were €348 million as of December 31, 2024 as compared with €277 million as of December 31, 2023. The increase was primarily driven by net cash generated from operating activities of €353 million due to strong operating performance, partially offset by net cash used in investing activities of €255 million, primarily from the acquisition of additional sport rights, most notably its new NBA and ATP deals, and the acquisition of assets of XLMedia, and from net cash used in financing activities of €37 million, due primarily to share repurchases. Free cash flow for the year ended December 31, 2024 was €118 million, an increase of €67 million from €50 million in the same period a year ago.
Including its undrawn credit facility, the Company had total liquidity of €568 million at December 31, 2024 as compared to €497 million as of December 31, 2023, and no debt outstanding.
2025 Annual Financial Outlook
Sportradar is targeting fiscal 2025 outlook as follows:
- Revenue of at least €1,273 million, representing year-on-year growth of at least 15%
- Adjusted EBITDA of at least €281 million, representing year-on-year growth of at least 26%
- Adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of at least 200 basis points
- Free cash flow conversion1 rate above the 2024 level of 53%
The 2025 guidance does not include any impact from the pending acquisition of IMG ARENA given the uncertainty around the timing of close. Guidance will be updated to incorporate the uplift resulting from this acquisition upon closing.
Share Repurchase Plan
In March 2024, the Board of Directors approved a $200 million share repurchase plan and commenced purchases during the second quarter. During the quarter ended December 31, 2024, the Company repurchased approximately 467 thousand shares for a total of $5.7 million. For the full year 2024, the Company repurchased 1.8 million shares under the plan for a total of approximately $20.3 million.
Subsequent Event
This morning, Sportradar announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. to acquire IMG ARENA and its global sports betting rights portfolio. IMG ARENA’s portfolio will enhance Sportradar’s content and product offering and further strengthen its strategic position as a leading content provider in the most bet upon global sports, including tennis, soccer and basketball. Under terms of the agreement, IMG ARENA will provide financial consideration totaling $225 million (subject to customary purchase price adjustments), comprised of $125 million cash paid to Sportradar and up to $100 million cash prepayments made to certain of the sports rightsholders. Sportradar will not be required to pay any financial consideration to the Endeavor Group.
With its highly scalable technology platform and extensive client network, Sportradar will seamlessly integrate and monetize these rights, driving incremental value for clients, partners and shareholders. This addition will further accelerate Sportradar’s robust revenue, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow growth and will be immediately accretive to adjusted EBITDA margins.
IMG’s portfolio of global betting rights comprises strategic relationships with over 70 rightsholders covering approximately 39,000 official data events and 30,000 streaming events across 14 global sports on six continents. Prominent properties include Wimbledon, U.S. Open, Roland-Garros, Major League Soccer, EuroLeague basketball, and PGA Tour, amongst others.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is currently expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Conference Call and Webcast Information
Sportradar will host a conference call to discuss the fourth quarter and full year 2024 results today, March 19, 2025, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Those wishing to participate via webcast should access the earnings call through Sportradar’s Investor Relations website. An archived webcast with the accompanying slides will be available at the Company’s Investor Relations website for one year after the conclusion of the live event.
The post Sportradar Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Results and Announces Agreement to Acquire IMG Arena and Its Strategic Portfolio of Global Sports Betting Rights appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Latest News
Galaxsys Launches Its First Slot Game – Meet El Dorado!
In the game, players set their bets, spin the reels, and aim to match three symbols. Plus, there’s a bonus round with 15 levels of progression, giving players the chance to win up to an impressive x1000 multiplier.
Game Highlights:
- Buy Bonus
- Bonus Game
- Epic Theme & Seamless Interface
- In-house Promotional Tools
- Bonus System
The post Galaxsys Launches Its First Slot Game – Meet El Dorado! appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Latest News
MightyTips and GG.BET enhance their long-standing partnership
MightyTips is expanding its long-standing partnership with eSports sportsbook GG.BET, aimed at boosting their digital visibility and driving website traffic.
The collaboration has grown since 2021, and the latest extension is new exclusive written content available on MightyTips.com as part of the MightyQs series, which explores collaborations between bookmakers and sports organisations. This feature highlights GG. BET’s expertise as one of the largest eSports betting brands.
Capitalising on the booming eSports market, GG.BET has been shaping its strategy around this trend since 2016. The company went beyond traditional betting by partnering with top eSports teams such as NAVI and Team Vitality and engaging fans through interactive events.
The exclusive editorial content focuses on GG. BET’s iGaming portfolio which features affiliations with prestigious tournaments like BLAST Premier, PGL, ESL, The International, and Starladder. “Partnering with tier-one clubs also plays a vital role. These alliances are founded not only on supporting the teams but also on finding new ways to interact with the fans,” the company states.
These partnerships have enhanced GG. BET’s brand awareness and user retention. “Esports betting is constantly changing. Just a few years ago, the GG.BET platform was dominated by Counter-Strike and Dota 2, with the competition lagging far behind. Today, audience attention is much more evenly spread. This is a sign to betting brands that it’s time to adapt,” they add.
Though eSports fans have different needs than traditional sports bettors, GG.BET is committed to serving both audiences. “The boundary between these audiences is gradually vanishing, and the intersection points are becoming increasingly visible,” confirms GG.BET experts.
Eugene Ravdin, MightyTips Head of Communications and Marketing, said: “We are keen to continue working with GG.BET. They have stood out as one of the largest eSports sportsbooks from the outset, and we were excited to learn their tricks and hear their stories. A must-read for anyone interested in how marketing and community building work in eSports.”
The post MightyTips and GG.BET enhance their long-standing partnership appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
-
Latest News3 months ago
GamCare releases Annual Report following record breaking year of support on the National Gambling Helpline
-
Latest News3 months ago
Kambi Group plc repurchase of shares during 18 December – 23 December 2024
-
Latest News3 months ago
India Levels Up: Emerging as a Global Gaming Powerhouse in 2024
-
Latest News3 months ago
Imagine Live Partners with King.rs
-
Latest News1 month ago
Sportradar’s Alpha Odds Receives Dual Honors at European iGaming Awards 2025
-
Latest News1 month ago
Fall in Love with Nature’s Greatest Romantics This Valentine’s Day at Springbok Casino and Claim 25 Free Spins
-
Latest News1 month ago
Swintt secured ISO 27001: 2022 certification
-
Latest News3 months ago
Be victorious with VinciSpin, a brand-new online casino launched by Betmen Affiliates
You must be logged in to post a comment Login