888 Holdings PLC (LSE:888) said group revenue fell 18% year-over-year in the first quarter 2022, hit by a heightened focus on safer gambling and its temporary exit from the Netherlands.
The gaming group added key regulated markets delivered a strong performance, particularly the US, Romania and Portugal - all of which grew year-over-year, together with strong sequential growth in Italy.
This offset a larger year-over-year decline in the UK, which was impacted by market-wide trends including the impact of increased player restrictions.
"Having revised the transaction terms for William Hill and completed an equity placing to part-fund the deal, we are on track to complete in June and continue to execute our plan to build a global online betting and gaming leader," said Itai Pazner, chief executive.
"I am pleased with the group's progress, and we are looking forward to returning to year-over-year revenue growth in the second half of the year, as we benefit from further launches in additional US states, together with our expectation of relaunching in the Netherlands and ramping up our recent launch in Ontario."
Group revenue was US$224mln for the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to $273mln in the first quarter of 2021 and $222mln in the last quarter, according to the trading update.
Referring to its B2C operations, betting stakes declined 28% against the prior year, due to strong comparatives and the closure of the Netherlands. Betting revenue declined by 42%, driven by decline in stakes.
In B2B, revenue decreased slightly on a year-over-year and sequential basis, in part due to the challenging market conditions in the UK.