Part 2: Operator review
LeoVegas
Danske Spil is undoubtedly one
of the sports betting-led market
leaders alongside Bet365, Kindred’s
Unibet brand and Betsson’s
NordicBet and Betsafe brands.
However, newer brands have
entered the online casino space and
among them is LeoVegas which
appeared in late 2016, first with
casino and then in the summer of
last year with a sportsbook.
In its full-year 2017 results it said
that Denmark had been one of its
best-ever launches, with the market
moving from being “small… to a very
important one.” It followed that up
in the first quarter by disclosing the
percentage of revenue derived from
Denmark for the first time – 7% –
meaning Danish net gaming revenue
was worth €5.4m.
Translated to Danish Krone, this
comes in at circa DKK40.3m, and
though it is a big ‘if’ to assume that
the 7% level can be applied across
LeoVegas’ 2017 full-year NGR, if
we do so we arrive at a figure of
€15.2m or DKK113m. Triangulating
that figure with the total market
gives LeoVegas a total market
share percentage of 3.4%.
Kindred
The next obvious point of call for
gauging market share estimates
is Kindred, with its Unibet brand
widely considered to be among the
market leaders alongside Danske
Spil, Bet365 and Betsson.
Unlike with either of the above
examples, however, in estimating
Unibet’s market share we first have
to make an educated guess as
to the percentage of revenue the
company derives from Denmark.
Acquisition route
“cut short market
entry process” by
six months
Jesper Kärrbrink
In 2017, Kindred said it made
gross winnings revenue of £297m
from the Nordics, or 40% of its total
revenues of £751.4m.
A large slice of that total will
come from Sweden – at least
40% and possibly more. If we
estimate that Denmark was worth
20% of total Nordic revenue, that
would give a figure of £59.4m or
DKK506m, equating to 15% of the
total market.
This feels about right. According to
the sources spoken to for this report,
the above-mentioned top four market
leaders likely account for 75% of the
sports betting market. The casino
market is likely slightly more diffuse,
as new entrants such as LeoVegas,
the likes of Mr Green and the Aspire
Global brands have managed to
grab small but still significant market
shares in that vertical.
Betsson
A similar process can be applied to
Betsson to arrive at a guesstimate
of its Danish revenues. The
company runs its Betsafe and
NordicBet brands within Denmark,
but not its own Betsson brand.
For the full-year 2017 the
company stated it generated total
Nordic revenues of SEK2.26bn. If
again, we apply a straight line 20%
Danish share to that figure we get
to SEK451.6m or DKK326m. That
would equate to a market share
percentage of around 10%.
With both Betsson and Kindred/
Unibet, these are estimates so the
percentage for either might be
Denmark: Insights and data on Europe’s pioneer model for igaming regulation
13