Ninja Casino drives Q3 growth for Global Gaming

Global Gaming has cited the performance of its core Ninja Casino brand as the main driver behind a 93% year-on-year increase in Q3 revenue, the operator's eighth successive quarter of growth.

Net gaming revenue amounted to SEK253.1m (£21.8m/€24.6m/$28m) in the three months to September 30, almost double the SEK131.4m generated in the corresponding period in 2017.

Much of this was down to an increase in revenue at Nordic-facing Ninja Casino, which jumped from SEK91.6m in Q3 of 2017 to SEK229.8m this year, representing 91% of total revenue for the quarter. Deposits at Ninja Casino, which offers no-registration play via the proprietary PayNPlay platform, were also up 9% on the second quarter of this year, with 75% of customers now accessing the brand via mobile.

In total the group's own B2C brands, including Ninja Casino and new Swedish online casino SpelLandet, which debuted in July, accounted for all but SEK500,000 of Q3 revenue, with the firm's soon-to-be-discontinued B2B vertical making a minor contribution.

“During the third quarter, our revenue increased by 93 percent compared to the corresponding quarter of last year, and growth was 11 percent from the previous quarter. Impressive growth considering the dramatically increased competition in the Swedish market and given that in the latter part of the quarter we somewhat reduced marketing for Ninja Casino,” chief executive Joacim Möller (pictured) commented. 

The revenue growth contributed to a significant hike in operating costs, which rose 66% year-on-year to SEK 89.9m. Despite Möller saying that marketing had been reduced for Ninja Casino during the period, marketing costs more than trebled to SEK68.6m, while personnel costs rose from SEK8.1m in Q3 2017 to SEK21.2m. The company also reported capitalised development costs of SEK1.1m, with the operator currently developing a new front-end platform. This will be used to power the launch of Ninja Casino in the Estonian market, after Global's SafeEnt subsidiary secured an operating licence in the market. 

These factors contributed to total costs for the quarter soaring 193% to SEK103.0m. However due to the copmany's growth in revenue, operating profit rose from SEK42.1m in the prior year to SEK60.3m. After finance costs and taxes, this saw the operator post a profit for the quarter of SEK54.3m, up 47% year-on-year.

For the nine months ended September 30th, revenue was up 140% year-on-year at SEK679.5m, with profit rising 55% to SEK109.0m. 

Following the end of the reporting period, Global announced that it is to terminate its white label operations in order to focus efforts on its B2C business, and expects to be awarded an operating licence in Sweden's re-regulated gaming market. 

In related news, Global has appointed Niklas Jönsson as its new chief financial officer. He will begin his new role on January 1 and replace Christoffer Tell, who will remain in an advisory role to management until February 28.

Jönsson joins Global from Evolution Gaming, where he had been serving as chief financial officer.

Speaking about his appointment, Jönsson said: “It's incredibly inspiring to be part of Global Gaming’s continuing journey. Having come from the supplier side of the industry, I now want to continue my personal development on the operator side.”