KingMakers, the sports betting subsidiary of MultiChoice Group and operator of BetKing Nigeria, recorded a 76% growth in revenue for the financial year ended March 31, 2025.
According to the Group, the company’s revenue rose to $106 million in the period under review, underpinned by a strong improvement in the underlying operating performance of the Nigerian business.
The financial report indicated that while Multichoice is seeing a decline in the number of subscribers for its Paytv business, DStv and GOtv in Nigeria, it is winning on the betting side.
“BetKing Nigeria has maintained strong momentum. It is acquiring better quality first-time betters, as evidenced by the higher average wager per user, and is enjoying significant growth in its higher-margin online business,” Multichoice stated.
While the company did not report its customer number in the latest results, for the 2024 financial year, Multichoice had reported a 37% growth in betting customers in Nigeria and a 26% increase in revenue.
Impact of Naira volatility
Multichoice, however, noted that due to the impact of the weak Naira on translation of financial performance, reported revenue was down 30% to $103 million.
“The Nigerian business remained EBITDA positive, but the investment to launch SuperSportBet in South Africa and the effects of a much weaker Naira resulted in an EBITDA loss for KingMakers of USD9 million, compared to a profit of USD3 million in the prior year.
“The business is sufficiently capitalised to fund its growth ambition and held cash balances of USD97 million at the end of December,” the company stated.
What you should know
To make its entry into the booming betting business in Nigeria, MultiChoice had acquired a 20% stake in Nigerian online sports betting company BetKing, now known as KingMakers, for R1.3 billion in 2020.
- In 2021, the video entertainment firm increased its stake to 49% for $281.5 million, bringing the total value of its KingMakers shareholding to R5.9 billion.
- MultiChoice planned to leverage its extensive sports coverage to boost the betting business.
- According to internal data cited by KingMakers, 77% of DStv subscribers are active betters or engage in match predictions, providing an extensive customer base for a betting product.
- According to a report by KPMG, Africa’s gambling market was predicted to reach a value of $37 billion by 2022, with sports betting accounting for most of that growth.
- The majority of Africa’s Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) is sports betting, is expected to rise by 17% by 2027, with online betting revenues growing from $2.9 billion to $5.5 billion.
MultiChoice had alluded to the sports betting industry’s impressive growth projections as one of the driving reasons for the acquisition.
