ESL FACEIT Group (EFG), the leading esports and video game entertainment company, and DreamHack, a leading global gaming festival, have announced a full slate of esports programming for DreamHack Dallas, taking place the weekend of May 31-June 2, 2024, at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

One of DreamHack’s longest-running North American gaming festivals, DreamHack Dallas features everything gaming under one roof. From the world-famous bring-your-own-computer (BYOC) LAN party, panels, and an expo, to art, cosplay, creator meet-and-greets, and much more, DreamHack Dallas offers attendees a great variety of activities for an unforgettable experience. Furthermore, the festival will host 13 unique esports competitions – including iconic titles like Counter-Strike 2, Overwatch, StarCraft® II, and more to come – with over $1 million in total prizing.

For the first time, several DreamHack Dallas esports events – including competitions in EA SPORTS FC™ 24, Tekken 8, Street Fighter 6, and more – will offer aspiring competitors the chance to qualify for this summer’s debut Esports World Cup. With new pipelines to a $60 million prize pool and a global audience in Riyadh, DreamHack is offering more opportunities than ever for grassroots talent to fight their way to the world stage.

“Esports has been part of the fabric of DreamHack Dallas since the festival’s inception, and we’re excited once again to welcome tens of thousands of fans this summer to celebrate their favorite competitive titles,” said Shahin Zarrabi, Vice President, Festivals, ESL FACEIT Group. “From the 100th IEM event to the first-ever OWCS live event and qualifiers for Esports World Cup, DreamHack is celebrating every type of gamer, from world-class competitors to the next breakout stars.”

Dallas Hosts 16 Top Counter-Strike 2 Squads for 100th IEM Event

The birthplace of North American Counter-Strike esports will invite 16 of the world’s best teams to clash in Intel® Extreme Masters (IEM) Dallas, the 100th IEM event. With an ESL Pro Tour (EPT) Masters trophy, $250,000 in prizing, and qualification to an EPT Championship up for grabs, fans will watch as hometown heroes challenge international hopefuls in the US’s biggest Counter-Strike event of the year.

Overwatch Luminaries Assemble for First-Ever International Live Event for OWCS

The first-ever in-person Major tournament of Blizzard Entertainment and EFG’s Overwatch Champions Series invites eight of our competitive region’s top teams for a three-day showcase of industry-class talent. Featuring a prize pool supported by crowdfunding, fans can watch the action unfold live – or at home with the official broadcast or partnered co-streams – as teams face off to be the first team to claim an international OWCS title and qualify to compete at Esports World Cup.

ESL Impact Returns to DreamHack Dallas with $123K Season Finale

ESL Impact, a global all-women Counter-Strike circuit, returns to DreamHack Dallas for the exciting conclusion of Season 5 of competition. Eight of the world’s best women’s Counter-Strike teams representing North America, Europe, South America, and Asia will face off to see who will claim the title and the lion’s share of the $123,000 prize pool.

ESL Pro Tour in StarCraft® II Makes Masters Stop at DreamHack Dallas

The EPT in StarCraft® II, the title’s premier global esports circuit, continues with the ESL SC2 Masters: Spring 2024 Finals at DreamHack Dallas. Not only will competitors battle for their share of the $100,000 prize pool, but the opportunity to qualify for StarCraft® II competition at this summer’s inaugural Esports World Cup.

EA SPORTS FC™ 24 at DreamHack Dallas Kicks off Esports World Cup Qualifications

Electronic Arts’ soccer title, EA SPORTS FC™ 24, comes to DreamHack Dallas for the first time this summer with a world-class tournament. With the top two players securing their spot at Esports World Cup this August, the competition offers up to 250 competitors their first opportunity to qualify for EWC, in addition to $100,000 USD in total prizing.

Fighting Games take Center Stage with New DreamHack Fighters, Esports World Cup Tournaments

DreamHack’s marquee fighting game hub, DreamHack Fighters, brings six open tournaments to Dallas, including a mix of modern mainstays and FGC classics. Open to all registered attendees, competitors can face off to claim a slice of the $16,000 total prize pool. Participating titles include:

• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Singles ($5,000)
• UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes (UNI 2) ($2,500)
• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising ($2,500)
• Guilty Gear Strive ($2,500)
• Mortal Kombat 1 ($2,500)
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Doubles ($1,000)

For the first time, DreamHack will also host competitions in Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6, which include the chance to qualify for Esports World Cup. Both tournaments offer $50,000 in prizing each, as well as pipelines to compete on some of the titles’ biggest stages in Riyadh this summer.

AGA State of the States Report Shows Record $14.67 Billion in 2023 Commercial Industry Tax Contributions.

U.S. commercial gaming revenue reached a quarterly record of $17.67 billion in Q1 2024, the industry’s 13^th consecutive quarter of growth, according to the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker. The quarter was punctuated by March revenue of $6.09 billion, the industry’s second-highest grossing month ever.

“While gaming’s momentum remains strong, 2024 will be the new baseline for future growth after several years of sports betting legalization and post-pandemic consumer shifts,” said AGA President and CEO Bill Miller. “Gaming’s continued growth relies on maintaining our commitment to innovation and responsibility.”

Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker Highlights

Across the country, 11 state gaming markets set new quarterly revenue records, including Pennsylvania and New York, two of the nation’s largest commercial gaming markets.

Both retail and online gaming saw annual growth in Q1 2024, though at slower rates than in previous quarters. Retail gaming accounted for 70.7 percent of total revenue while online gaming represented its largest share ever, 29.3 percent. Looking closer at each sector:

• Traditional Gaming: Traditional brick-and-mortar casino gaming generated quarterly revenue of $12.34 billion, a modest increase of 0.3 percent year-over-year that was hampered by severe January weather in regional gaming markets nationwide.
• Legal Sports Betting: Americans wagered a first-quarter record $36.86 billion on sports in Q1, generating $3.33 billion in quarterly revenue (+22.0% year-over-year). The growth compared to Q1 2023 was in part driven by new market launches in Kentucky, Maine, North Carolina and Vermont.
• iGaming: iGaming grossed an all-time high of $1.98 billion in Q1, a 26.1 percent year-over-year increase bolstered by Rhode Island’s iGaming market launch in March.

State of the States 2024

The AGA also released its annual State of the States report today, which provides the definitive state-by-state economic and regulatory analysis of U.S. commercial gaming in 2023 for policymakers, gaming stakeholders and industry observers.

State of the States 2024 details the record $14.67 billion in direct gaming tax revenue paid to state and local governments by commercial gaming operators in 2023—up 9.7 percent from 2022. This does not include the billions more paid in income, sales or other taxes.

“As gaming expands, more communities than ever are benefiting,” continued Miller. “We are proud to create jobs across the country, provide world-class entertainment experiences that offer safe alternatives to the pervasive illegal gambling market, and generate tax revenue to support critical public projects.”

Background

• AGA’s Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker provides state-by-state and cumulative insight into the U.S. commercial gaming industry’s financial performance based on state revenue reports. This issue highlights Q1 2024 results.
• 37 states and the District of Columbia featured operational commercial gaming markets in Q1 2024, including casino gaming, sports betting and iGaming.
• AGA’s State of Play Map charts gaming’s economic impact, industry regulations and casino locations on a state-by-state basis for both the commercial and tribal gaming sectors.

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Gambling.com Group Limited (Nasdaq: GAMB) (“Gambling.com Group” or the “Company”), a fast-growing provider of digital marketing services for the global online gambling industry, today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024. The Company also updated its 2024 revenue and Adjusted EBITDA guidance as detailed below.

“We are off to a great start to the year furthering our confidence in our ability to generate strong Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow growth this year and for years to come,” commented Charles Gillespie, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Gambling.com Group. “The investments we have made for years in our proprietary technology, website portfolio, and accretive acquisitions are driving consistent growth. As we continue to expand our industry leadership and influence across global online gambling markets and leverage the many growth drivers we have, we see a clear road ahead to generate substantially higher Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow.”

Elias Mark, Chief Financial Officer of Gambling.com Group added, “By growing year on year in every one of our geographic reporting markets, we delivered record Q1 revenue with top line growth of 9% despite the comparable period benefiting from significantly more new state launch activity.”

First Quarter 2024 and Recent Business Highlights

Delivered more than 107,000 new depositing customers (“NDCs”)
Strong initial contribution from North Carolina following launch on March 11th
Secured new $50 million credit facility with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association
Repurchased 329,490 shares for an average price of $9.10
Completed highly accretive acquisition of Freebets.com and related assets on April 1st
Board of Directors approved an additional $10 million for the Company’s ordinary shares repurchase program in May
First Quarter 2024 Results Compared to First Quarter 2023

Revenues rose 9% year-over-year to a first quarter record $29.2 million, reflecting growth across all geographic reporting markets. The Company delivered more than 107,000 NDCs to customers, an increase of 22%.

Gross profit increased 5% to $27.0 million, including a $1.2 million increase in cost of sales related to the Gannett and Independent partnerships.

Total operating expenses increased 9% to $19.1 million, reflecting increases in sales and marketing, technology and general and administrative expenses.

Net income attributable to shareholders and net income per share rose 11% to $7.3 million and $0.19, respectively. Adjusted net income of $7.6 million and adjusted net income per share of $0.20 were flat, reflecting fair value movement related to acquisitions in the comparative period.

Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2024 was $10.2 million, reflecting an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 35% as compared to Adjusted EBITDA of $10.7 million and Adjusted EBITDA margin of 40%, in the year-ago period. The Q1 2024 Adjusted EBITDA margin reflects higher costs of sales related to media partnerships.

Operating cash flow increased 24% to $8.8 million. Free Cash Flow increased 32% to $8.2 million reflecting positive working capital movements within operating cash flow and lower capital expenditures. The Company converted 28% of revenues and 81% of Adjusted EBITDA to Free Cash Flow in the first quarter of 2024.

2024 Outlook

Reflecting changes made in early May to how Google treats commercial content on high authority websites that, at present, diminishes the effectiveness of the Company’s media partnerships, Gambling.com Group today updated its 2024 full-year revenue and Adjusted EBITDA guidance. The Company now expects full year revenue of $118 to $122 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $40 million to $44 million. This compares to the initial guidance provided on March 21, 2024, for revenue of $129 million to $133 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $44 million to $48 million. The midpoint of the updated Adjusted EBITDA outlook of $42 million reflects expected year-over-year growth of 14%.

Charles Gillespie commented, “Even with these shifts in the digital landscape, the strength and resilience of our business will enable us to deliver strong year over year Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow growth. With less competition in the search engine results pages, our owned and operated assets are better positioned for the long term than ever before.”

The Company’s guidance assumes:

Following the launch of sports betting in North Carolina on March 11th, no additional North American markets come online over the balance of 2024
Apart from the acquisition of Freebets.com and related assets, no impact from any additional acquisitions in 2024
Full year cost of sales of approximately $4.8 million, of which $2.2 million was incurred in Q1
An average EUR/USD exchange rate of 1.09 throughout 2024

To access, please dial in approximately 10 minutes before the start of the call. An archived webcast of the conference call will also be available in the News & Events section of the Company’s website at gambling.com/corporate/investors/news-events. Information contained on the Company’s website is not incorporated into this press release.