Over a year on from LiveScore Group’s decision to exit the Netherlands, the operator appears to be seeing benefits from its new European strategy as it heads closer towards profitability.
The group, which operates LiveScore Media, LiveScore Bet and Virgin Bet, exited the Netherlands in November 2024 after the government announced a tax rise to 37.8% by January 2026. At the time, Sam Sadi, CEO of LiveScore Group, said the decision, alongside stricter advertising guidelines, made the market no longer commercially viable.
It’s a decision that fuelled the reduction of operating losses up to March 2025, which fell by almost half to £26.7m, compared to the £50.7m reported in the 2024 financial year.
Improvements in performance were driven by the strong performance of LiveScore’s UK operations, which saw turnover increase from £139.2m to £175.6m. This offset losses in turnover for LiveScore’s operations in Europe – almost entirely due to its withdrawal in the Netherlands – and the rest of the world.
Overall, turnover grew by £27.3m to £206.3m. Excluding the Netherlands, turnover was up by £33.5m to £194m.
LiveScore described itself as being in an ‘expansion phase’, evidenced by the recent launch of VirginBet in South Africa, and attributed its performance to gross profit outpacing investment.
More questions than answers?
Although buoyed by the strong performance of its UK assets, ongoing changes in the market mean that the next two years present a crucial juncture for firms like LiveScore seeking to strengthen their foothold in the jurisdiction.
The beginning of April marked the start of a new 40% tax on gross gambling revenue from online casino activity, making the market almost equally as challenging as the Netherlands.
LiveScore has expressed its belief that the company’s performance will provide ‘sufficient resilience’ to absorb the tax burden.
However, the fact that 90% of its turnover was generated from its B2C online gambling brands – alongside the fact that the growth of its financial performance in the last financial year hinged on UK turnover growth – means that LiveScore is vulnerable to the impact of the new tax framework.
In an attempt to get ahead of the changes, the group exited the Bulgarian market in December in an effort to refocus resources and ensure that the group remains ‘robust and agile’ in light of the UK budget.
Since exiting the Netherlands, Sadi told SBC News that the decision has been ‘validated’ as others ‘wasted’ capital trying to remain profitable despite the tax headwinds. But, in this instance, LiveScore will be one of the major companies looking to plot a path to profitability amid the changes.
Given that the UK remains LiveScore’s primary market, its performance means that the group may even be able to strengthen as other, smaller firms fall by the wayside in light of the increased financial burden.
Outside of the UK, LiveScore has begun to seek expansion outside of Europe, where tax frameworks tend to be more beneficial for operators.
As mentioned, after securing licences from gambling regulators in the Western Cape and Mpumalanga, LiveScore has now launched VirginBet in South Africa, building on LiveScore’s existing operations in Nigeria.
Although LiveScore’s Rest of the World turnover declined by 14% to £14.4m in the last financial year, Africa’s iGaming market continues to exhibit strong growth and launching in South Africa represents a significant opportunity.
However, given that the launch occurred after March 2025, the results, positive or negative, will not be known for a significant period of time.
