Multichoice, a pay-TV operator, reported considerable growth in its betting business in Nigeria for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, as users of its betting platform, KingMakers, climbed 37%.
This was revealed by the business in its recently issued annual financial reports.
This occurred in the midst of an 18% drop in subscribers for its primary businesses, DStv and GOtv, which were partially brought on by the company’s three straight price increases over the previous year.
This suggests that as inflation bites deeper, more Nigerians are turning to betting as a survival strategy in the hopes of increasing their earnings by risking the little money they have.
In a positive development for the business, Multichoice reported that its online gaming division experienced a 26% rise in revenue from Nigeria in constant currency year over year, despite declines in its Pay-TV division across the board.
Naira’s impact
The company did highlight, however, that the impact of the weaker naira caused the $147 million revenue for the year to come in 26% lower than FY23 in reported currency, which is USD.
“KingMakers reported strong growth in the online business in Nigeria, with monthly active users up 37% YoY and online gross gaming revenues up 26% YoY in constant currency.”
“The weak Naira impacted revenue of USD147 million, but the company reported a positive EBITDA of USD2 million. At the end of its fiscal year in December, it had a retained cash position of USD113 million, which was sufficient to fund its growth objectives,” the company stated.
Multichoice attributed its overall financial performance for the year to foreign exchange losses in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, and Angola. The company reported a loss of 4.148 billion rands ($224.87 million) in the year ended March 2024, an increase from a loss of 2.9 billion rands ($157.21 million) the year prior.
Things To Note
In 2020, MultiChoice made its foray into the lucrative Nigerian betting market by purchasing a 20% share in BetKing, a.k.a. KingMakers, an online sports betting company based in Nigeria, for R1.3 billion.
The video entertainment company paid $281.5 million to extend its interest to 49% in 2021, making its KingMakers stock worth a total of R5.9 billion.
MultiChoice intended to increase the betting industry by utilising its broad sports coverage.
77% of DStv members are active betters or participate in match predictions, according to internal data supplied by KingMakers. This represents a sizable customer base for a betting product.
A KPMG analysis estimated that by 2022, the gambling market in Africa would be worth $37 billion, with sports betting driving the majority of this development.
Sports betting accounts for the majority of Africa’s Gross Gaming Revenue (GRR), which is projected to increase by 17% by 2027. Online betting income is forecast to increase from $2.9 billion to $5.5 billion.
The remarkable development prospects of the sports betting sector were mentioned by MultiChoice as one of the acquisition’s motivating factors.
