Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose challenges and the macroeconomic outlook remains highly uncertain, Playtech has said it remains “well placed to make further strategic and operational progress in 2021.”
Playtech’s online Casino (including Live), Bingo and Poker businesses are reported to have performed ‘very well’ throughout 2020. Sports, which is heavily weighted towards retail, was impacted by retail closures and the lack of sporting events at various points during the year.
Snaitech had a "resilient 2020" with a very strong performance in online, with retail impacted by lockdown measures and the cancellation of sporting events.
Playtech’s business in Asia was impacted in 2020 by government restrictions in response to the pandemic as well as restrictions on payment processing. Playtech added a new distributor in 2020, alongside its existing distributor in Asia, to add more flexibility in the region going forward.
Playtech’s financials division had a "very strong 2020" driven by an "exceptional performance" in the first half of the year, followed by a "challenging H2".
Playtech has previously stated that it is a strategic focus of the company to simplify its business and dispose of non-core assets. To this end, Playtech has completed the sale of YoYo Games, part of the discontinued Casual and Social Gaming business, for a consideration of approximately US$10m. With the completion of the sale of YoYo Games, Playtech has now disposed of all its Casual and Social Gaming assets.
2020 saw Playtech enter the US market, receiving a license and launching with bet365 and Entain in New Jersey, and, in December 2020, receiving regulatory approval to launch in Michigan.
In Latin America, Caliente in Mexico experienced strong growth, going live with Wplay in Colombia and signing new structured agreements in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama. Snaitech strengthened its position in the Italian market with online growth.
In 2020, Playtech also launched its new sustainable business strategy, Sustainable Success. Playtech is supporting its licensees and partners to ensure that pre-COVID Safer Gambling commitments and industry codes of conduct to further safeguard consumers during the crisis are met and are effective.
Source: GMB
