Evolution Expects Gambling Commission Review Update This Year
Evolution has confirmed it hopes to hear from the Gambling Commission on its review in the coming weeks, although no deadline has been set by the UK’s regulator.
The Gambling Commission set up a review into Evolution’s practices at the end of 2024, after it found that the company’s casino games had been allowed to be used on unregulated sites.
Little information about the review’s progress has been offered since then, but Evolution has suggested that an update could be in the works.
Speaking to analysts on an October 23 call to discuss Evolution’s latest financial results, the company’s chief executive Martin Carlesund suggested there could be a December deadline.
He said:
When it comes to the UK Gambling Commission timeline, unfortunately I don’t have any other information. It’s in the hands of the regulator and our estimation is that it will be by the end of this year.
Gambling Commission chief executive Andrew Rhodes previously warned operators of casino games such as Evolution that they need to upgrade monitoring their business relationships.
He explained that this was a necessary step required to ensure that their partners were not facilitating illegal gambling, which the Gambling Commission said Evolution had been.
Evolution Revenues See Small Fall
Carlesund was speaking to analysts in the wake of Evolution releasing its latest financial update, in which it said revenue for the third quarter of the year had fallen by 2.4%.
Revenues stood at €507.1 million for the three-month period, with Carlesund explaining that targeted cyber-attacks across the Asia region had contributed to the decrease.
Carlesund also commented on the state of the Philippines iGaming market, which he said had been “very volatile” during its early stages.
He said in a statement released by the company alongside the Q3 data:
Other markets such as India, which in our view show signs of moving towards regulation, create a higher level of uncertainty than before.
Carlesund noted that the new Evolution studio that it has opened in the Philippines has “been off to a great start” and pointed out it shows that the company is committed to the region.
Evolution has revealed how the company’s finances are performing of late
Better Results For Evolution In Europe And North America
While Asia provided a mixed set of results for Evolution in its Q3 update, there was better news for its performance in Europe.
Europe revenue hit €182.2 million during the three-month period, which the company reported was up from €180.2 million in Q2. However, it was not all good news for Evolution as Europe was down by 6.5% when the results for the quarter were compared to the previous year’s data.
Carlesund said of the European results for Evolution:
In the second quarter, we saw the full effects from our ring-fencing measures which provided a new baseline to grow from.
Despite a summer without any major sports events, we saw good momentum even in the more mature regulated markets compared to the first part of the year.
North America provided a modest increase in revenues for Evolution in its Q3 data, but overall its performance in the region continues to perform well on an annual basis.
All in all, Evolution stated that its EBITDA for the period saw a drop of 18.9% to €337 million. Meanwhile, EBITDA margin was recorded at 66.4% – which is slightly down from 71.7% last year – while the company’s profit was down 23.3% at €252.3 million.
Evolution has also announced that the company has acquired 40,000 of its own shares within the framework of a repurchase programme that has been introduced by directors.
