Zeal considers new markets after H1 growth
Zeal Group has told iGamingBusiness.com that it is looking at a number of potential expansion markets on the back of financial growth in the first half of the year.
Revenue at the lottery games company, whose divisions include Lottovate and myLotto24, was up 17% to €73m ($84.8m) in the six months to June 30, while billings also increased slightly to €141.9m.
Frank Hoffmann, investor relations manager at Zeal, said much of this growth was down to “strong demand” across the company’s product portfolio including higher jackpot products, instant win games and a high jackpot offered by its ‘EuroJackpot’.
Hoffmann also cited a 69% year-on-year increase in marketing spend during the period, which helped to deliver 293,000 new registered customers compared to 174,000 in the first half of last year.
“We’ve made our marketing more efficient,” Hoffmann told iGamingBusiness.com. “This is reflected in the excellent figures. As long as this works so well, we will remain on the road.”
However, it wasn’t all good news for Zeal in the first half. The firm was recently dealt a blow in Australia when parliament introduced a ban on lottery betting, which led to Zeal withdrawing from the country.
The move came shortly after Zeal had launched its MyLotto24 synthetic lottery product in the country. The company had set up a partnership with the Victorian Newsagents Association (VANA) to allow newsagents to offer its products via the VANA Nparcel payment system
Although this was a disappointment for the company, Hoffmann told iGaming Business that the firm is now looking to opportunities in other markets around the world.
“Our UK business is performing well and has achieved the required marketing KPIs,” Hoffmann said. “We are now planning to move into scale-testing in the near future. We are also looking into other markets.”
In Zeal’s trading update, CEO Helmut Becker labelled the Australian government's decision “disappointing”, but said he is “excited by the overall potential of our portfolio and the opportunities I see for Zeal across the global lottery industry.”
One area for particular optimism is Lottovate’s Raffld service in the Netherlands, which has been billed as the world’s first experience lottery. Raffid runs as a digital-first charity lottery that gives players the chance to win experiences they can share with friends.
Hoffmann told iGamingBusiness.com: “We’ll be doing something different in Netherlands – a product not seen before in the market and targeting a new customer group, based on robust market research and customer feedback. We are positive about the potential in this market.”