A sweet and short earnings call from Betsson this morning, 24 April, continues to follow a familiar pattern. CEO Pontus Lindwall fielded a couple of questions from one analyst before saying his goodbyes. Betsson has been such a well-oiled machine to the point these calls feel almost perfunctory. But in Q1 2026, EBIT took a 47% hit on the back of softer B2B performance. However, the boss remains confident in the stablisation of the division and growth head. On the B2C side, Italy and Latam were cited as strong performers, while M&A is back on the menu after it snapped up Rhino Entertainment in March. A rumour linking the business to Yolo Group’s Sportsbet.io crypt sportsbook emerged, with Lindwall remarking the sector is one he is watching with intrigue
EGR: The Q1 earnings report was prefaced with an update a couple of weeks ago, but is it frustrating to see the EBIT decline of 47%?
Pontus Lindwall (PL): I wouldn’t say its frustrating. It’s not something we appreciate much of course, but it’s the reality. The only thing we can do about it is to continue work, be forward looking and try to make the best out of the situation for the B2B clients we have as well as try to add on new B2B clients to become even bigger going forward.
EGR: On the B2B front, what signals are giving you confidence revenue will increase again?
PL: We are in discussion with several additional B2B partners. Mostly when you have new partners coming on, they start from zero and work their way up. We’re optimistic and, as I said in the presentation, we don’t have a crystal ball. We’re not able to do any predictions of where we’re going, but we see that we have stabilised and are optimistic for the future.
EGR: On B2C, deposits were down 14% and casino and sportsbook turnover was also down by more than 15%. What’s caused those downturns?
PL: There are a lot of things that interact in terms of turnover going down. In general, we saw B2C revenue was up some 15% to an all-time high level, and we saw some really good outcomes in the main markets – what we call our focus markets – where we put the most of our efforts.
So, I would say, in general, we’re really, really happy with the way the B2C business is going. And we look forward to the World Cup to see what it can do to hopefully boost that further.
EGR: Alongside those ‘focus’ markets, the report mentioned some B2C markets that are not yet profitable but that you continue to invest in. Can you share what those are and why they have potential?
PL: We tend to go to markets where we see a way to profitability. In every market, you need to become big enough to become profitable. And it always takes time to build up. You need to build the customer base and brand awareness and things like that. That costs money. A few of our larger markets are already profitable, and some other markets where we see good potential, we are not yet profitable, but we keep investing, and that’s a part of the reason why we are not yet profitable. At some point we will reach the certain size so that we become profitable. But I can’t really go into which markets are in which bracket.
EGR: One market you are having success in is Italy, with new records set this quarter. Are you taking share from the longtail of operators that left following the licence regime change?
PL: That’s a very good example of a B2C market which we have built up from scratch and have been investing in. Let’s call it, ‘losing money for many, many years’ and, at some point, we became profitable.
We kept on growing and we had enough profits to make investments like the sponsorship of Inter Milan. We have a competitive product there as well. All of those things together have put us in a good position for growth and profitability.
EGR: Staying in Italy, what are your thoughts on Lazio signing a front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with Polymarket?
PL: We will see how European regulators will deal with that. I’m not an expert on the Italian gaming regulation but I know of some gaming regulations in more detail, and those [prediction] markets would be in conflict with the existing gaming regulation there.
EGR: I appreciate Betsson has a smaller operation in Brazil, but what do you think about President Lula pushing for a U-turn on regulation?
PL: It’s complex. When the regulation came into place and was enacted, we knew it was going to be competitive. We can’t expect the regulation to be stable for the first part of its of its lifetime. We have been quite careful in that market, and that’s where we are right now as well.
Every market is different, but I haven’t seen exactly this [sort of] thing before. But being in this industry for so long, I’m not shocked.
EGR: On the M&A front, you announced the acquisition of Rhino Entertainment. What made the business an appealing target?
PL: We will acquire some Canadian B2C business that we think sits well alongside the business we have there already. And then we will get some tech assets which we can use with our existing B2B partners and new B2B partners. That looks compelling to us.
[The deal is] not closed yet, but it’s a good price. We will get some organisational assets with really skillful people that has proven to be very effective and successful in the past. We think it’s a good position that suits our strategy going forward.
EGR: There were reports linking Betsson with acquiring crypto brands in the past five months. Is that an avenue you would consider going down?
PL: It’s definitely something we look into and we’re interested in. We already develop in-house some technology for certain pieces of that part of the industry, and we believe it’s here to stay. It’s an area where we will continue to have an interest.
EGR: How does that approach align with continued growth of revenue from licensed jurisdictions, with Q1 2026 being a new record for Betsson?
PL: It depends on what it is. If we were to take on a big crypto operation and just merge it into Betsson then it would have an impact on [locally licensed] split most likely.
There are other things with this technology we are looking at that doesn’t really impact the balance of regulated and unregulated business. So, it’s definitely a technical area to stay focused on and continue to invest in.
EGR: The report called out some new bet builder functionality; how is the product looking now?
PL: We’ve been developing our own bet builder technology for quite some time. We’ve made strong progress. It’s always hard to say where you are in the industry, but I would say it’s very, very competitive bet builder technology we have.
Obviously, it’s a very popular product, so that’s something where we keep on putting efforts into it.
EGR: Finally, the World Cup is coming up. Some operators have called out not overspending on acquisition given influx on softer players. Is this something you see?
PL: I think that analysis is correct in the way there are some, let’s call them more social gamblers, that come in for the World Cup, but maybe they’re not interested in hanging in there when the tournament is over.
But still, it’s a good event for acquisition and we tend to increase our intensity a bit during the World Cup, and we will do it this year again.
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Pontus Lindwall tells EGR the Stockholm-listed firm will keep an eye on developments in the crypto space, as he says B2B revenue slide can be arrested
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