Playtech is solidifying its presence in North America, with strong revenue growth in the United States and Canada highlighting the company's strategic focus on regulated markets. The company's latest half-year results reveal a combination of structural transformation and promising new opportunities.
In the first half of 2025, revenue from the U.S. and Canada surged by 64% to €21.8 million. This growth was fueled by recent launches with major operators including DraftKings, FanDuel, Penn Entertainment, and Caesars. Playtech also expanded its U.S. presence by entering West Virginia, its fourth state, marking another key milestone in its North American rollout.
Mor Weizer, CEO of Playtech, said:
"These results show the strong start Playtech is making in its transition back to its roots as a predominantly pure-play B2B business. I'm very pleased that we have reported earnings ahead of expectations from earlier in the year, reflecting the strong performance across our key markets."
Growing Regional Partnerships
North America has quickly become a central pillar of Playtech's B2B growth strategy. Its Live Casino services gained momentum, particularly with MGM Resorts International, which added more tables at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. In Canada, Playtech continued to expand its reach in Ontario through collaborations with NorthStar, Caesars, and GGVegas. As other provinces advance toward regulated gaming frameworks, the region remains poised for further expansion.
This regional success stood in contrast to an overall 9% decline in B2B revenue, which fell to €347.6 million due primarily to a revised partnership model with Caliente Interactive in Mexico. However, excluding the Caliente impact, Playtech's B2B revenue still posted a 3% increase.
Strategic Realignment and New Revenue Streams
The first half of the year also saw Playtech make two pivotal strategic moves. The €2.3 billion sale of Snaitech to Flutter facilitated a €1.8 billion return to shareholders and significantly reduced the company's debt, resulting in a net cash position of €77.1 million as of June's end.
In parallel, Playtech transitioned its arrangement with Caliente Interactive from service fees to an equity stake, replacing operational income with dividends. This shift helped lift total investment income to €19.8 million. Contributions from Hard Rock Digital added a further €2.1 million in dividends.
Meanwhile, B2C operations continued to decline, with revenue dropping 17% to €41 million. This decrease was largely attributed to the wind-down of HAPPYBET and stricter regulatory conditions affecting Sun Bingo.
Unconventional Growth at Sea
Outside of North America, Playtech found a unique avenue for international growth - aboard cruise ships. The company launched retail sports betting on seven MSC Cruises vessels, allowing passengers to place bets via self-service terminals and mobile tills integrated with their onboard accounts.
Yori Arami, VP Sports at Playtech, said:
"We are excited to partner with MSC Cruises and bring our retail sports betting solutions to their impressive fleet. This partnership represents a significant milestone for Playtech as we continue to expand our offerings and provide unique, engaging experiences for players around the world on land and sea."
MSC Cruises' Head of Casino, Mara Friso, added:
"We are very proud to be able to deliver the excitement and engagement of sports gaming to our guests through our partnership with Playtech. Our fleet of modern cruise ships will provide our customers a wide array of immersive digital content as a complement to our state-of-the-art cruise casinos."
Mor Weizer concluded:
"The second half of the year has started well, and we are on track to be ahead of expectations for the year and well placed to achieve the ambitious medium-term growth targets we set out at the FY 2024 results."
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Source:
https://lcb.org/news/playtechs-north-american-surge-anchors-h1-2025-performance
https://www.investors.playtech.com/~/media/Files/P/Playtech-IR-V2/documents/results-and-presentations/2025/2025-half-year-results.pdf
