Reports CZECH REPUBLIC MARKET
Last year Czechs spent CzK249.5bn (€9.1bn) on gambling with around 60 per cent of this spent on technical games (mostly slots) whilst the share of lottery spend was about 5.8 per cent.
Te lottery is made up mostly of number and instant lotteries and the main operators are Sazka, Fortuna and Tipsport.
Sazka was established in the Czech market back in 1956 and is the market leader for lotteries and instant lotteries with 11,400 PoS and a 94 per cent market share for numerical lotteries and 85 per cent share of instant lottery market.
It is part of the Sazka Group which also operates in Greece, Cyprus, Austria and Italy and operates a total of 63,000 PoS and serves 79 million adults with annual sales of €17bn.
Sportka was the first numerical lottery game launched in Czech in 1957 whilst Eurojackpot was introduced in 2014 and online lotteries were introduced in 2017. Sports betting was launched in 2009 and today Sazka Bet is the third largest player in the Czech sports betting market.
During the pandemic lockdown Sazka actively promoted the use of its online platforms for lottery products and digital only offerings and improved the sign up process to allow for safe registration and authorisation without having to visit the physical Points of Sale. Around 70 per cent of Sazka’s PoS network remained operational throughout the lockdown period which recovered to 95 per cent before the end of the first restrictions.
Sazka CEO Robert Chvátal said: “To limit the financial impact of these restrictions we have been working to drive online sales across all our markets. Tis includes the introduction of new digital products which are being thoroughly tested in order to meet the highest standards of responsible gaming, and measures to promote our existing online and digital offerings to new customers and customers who have previously played through physical channels.”
Te Sazka Group saw a total amount wagered of €5.46bn in 2019 with a GGR of €1.9bn, a six per cent increase on 2018 which in part has been attributed to the instant lottery and digital games sector growth in Czech which saw an increase of €30.9m in GGR during 2019. Te sale of its stake in Croatian operator SuperSport more than doubled net profit for the company.
Sazka Czech saw CzK17.7bn wagered in 2019 with a GGR of CzK7.34bn. Sazka paid CzK1.7bn to the state in gambling tax last year.
Te 1H 2020 Sazka Group results saw a GGR of €651.9m, a drop of 28 per cent on 2018 figures for the same period ending June.
Mr Chvátal said: “Te decrease in GGR is primarily caused by the impact of Covid-19 with
P104 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
“Pokerstars made no changes to their gaming plan and software so Czech PokerStars players are forced to wait for 50 per cent of GTD collected before entering a tourney and still get limited offerings etc. However,
PartyPoker.cz, SynotPoker and all landbased casinos benefited from the law change.” Lukas Horak, Asociace Hracu Pokeru a Kurzovych Sazek
revenues in different geographies and segments affected to varying degrees. Te reduction of sales of certain products through physical retail networks was partly offset by strong performance in digital-only games and online sales.
“Te gaming industry is characterised by rapidly changing technology including the increasing importance of online and mobile channels, which has accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns. Te future competitiveness of our businesses depends on our ability to respond to technological changes effectively.
“Te introduction of new games or the modification of existing games may require the approval of the relevant regulatory authorities. We may face regulatory conditions and restrictions that limit our ability to create new games, enter into new market segments or otherwise grow our business.”
In Czech the 1H 2020 GGR increased by €18.2m
and growth was mostly attributed to the increase in digital only games to the amount of €13.5m whilst numerical lotteries saw a GGR of €4.8m.
Te appeal of the lottery is growing in Czech. Back in 2013 around 54 per cent of adults played a lottery game rising to 73 per cent in 2019 according to a study by Kantar.
In Czech by the end of 2019 Sazka had 270,000 fully registered and active online customers whilst online accounts for 20 per cent of total sales.
Sazka has recently expressed an interest in operating the British National lottery and may submit an official offer. Te lottery is currently run by Camelot whose licence expires in 2023. Sazka has hired British public affairs group Flint Global to assist with its potential bid.
Meanwhile investment company Apollo Funds has agreed to invest €500m to set up Sazka Entertainment, a newly established company wholly owned by Karel Komárek’s KKCG group.
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