Live Casino Games Are Still the Lifeblood of Evolution Gaming in 2023

Live casino gambling was a relatively small market until Evolution Gaming made it their focus. The industry-leading software developer delivered the best type of "proof of concept" there can be – profits. However, as the company grew in stature, it acquired live casino development competitors and powerful brands in the RNG casino game space, such as award-winning slot developers Netent and Big Time Gaming, the team behind the popular Megaways payline mechanic.

While this growth is fantastic for shareholders and players alike, it did raise the question of whether Evolution was still focused on innovating in the live dealer space or if they had settled into the RNG gambling side of the industry.

 Always Follow the Money

Evolution CEO, Martin Carlesund, delved into the company's performance in 2022, commenting on the Year-end report for January–December 2022. He noted that he was incredibly proud of the fact that the developer had increased its player offering to more than 1300 live table games, launched a second streaming studio in North America and increased its overall operating profits by 36% to more than €1.45 billion.

It was particularly encouraging to see that despite their expansion into the RNG gambling sector, live gaming was still their largest profit centre and experienced the most growth!

Commenting on the growth of live dealer games, Carlesund said:

Quote

“Top-line growth continued to be driven by strong demand for Live Casino. Live Casino revenue increased by 41.1 percent year-on-year - which is very strong. Among many recent successful releases 2022 we see games like Monopoly Big Baller driving demand and increasing the entertainment factor for the end user.”

In contrast, their traditional casino games saw 5.1% growth during the same period. While this is a very good result Carlesund called the performance of RNG games “below our expectations”.

What Does 2023 Look Like?

Carlesund went on to state that the company was pleased with the results of 2022, which included releasing 88 new casino games (across live and RNG), profits of €843.4 million, and per-share earnings of €3.95 (up from €2.83 in 2021).

Speaking on the company's plans for the new year, Carlesund said:

Quote

“As we move into 2023, our strategy and core values remain unchanged - for us at Evolution it is always about striving to be a little bit better, every day of the year so that we can continue to widen the gap to competition and as I already stated, I very much look forward to an exciting 2023.”

He believes two agenda items driving their plans to "widen the gap to competition" are releasing over 100 new casino games and launching up to 2 new live-streamlining studios.