Caesars Management pledged on Tuesday to “significantly cut” the sportsbook’s marketing costs as the operator seeks to become profitable.
According to Caesars, the Digital segment’s adjusted EBITDA loss was $305 million in the fourth quarter $116 million in net earnings.
However, CEO tom league told investors that the first quarter of 2022 will be the high point for Caesars Sportsbook’s losses.
Caesars stock rises 8% from Wednesday $83.
Are you done with the Caesars Sportsbook?
The league said the operator had several TV spots march madness Couldn’t get out, but roughly speaking, “You’ll see our commercials pretty much disappear off the screen.”
Reeg says:
“We’ve accomplished what we set out to do. We set out to be important players, and it happened much sooner than we thought. And most of you , I hope you know that I am not a person who spends money unnecessarily.
quick ramp
Caesars pledged to invest just two quarters ago billion dollars in interactive business. Reeg stressed that plans weren’t changed, but everything started earlier than expected.
Caesars Sportsbook has twenty one% State US betting market share reported last month.
“And note that I’m not picking only the markets that are doing well and excluding those that aren’t,” Reeg added.
“This includes big steering wheel markets like Pennsylvania and Illinois, but we haven’t rolled out the Liberty platform yet, so we have 1% and 2% market share of steering wheels. So now you see us moving towards profitability.”
When will Caesars make a profit?
Later in the call, Reeg suggested that interactive businesses are being valued. -$15 shares because investors are concerned about profitability.
draft kings last week’s stock price 20% About similar concerns.
But Reeg wanted a long-term view.
“At this point, we went from increasingly bullish to infinitely bearish,” he said. “What we have told you is that we see a significant opportunity to win customers and grow this business. I see it as an opportunity.”
Is it wrong to stop sportsbook ads?
Some analysts questioned the logic of cutting spending given the relatively high churn rate of online gambling customers.
In other words, there is no guarantee that the customers Caesars currently has will continue.
Do you want to reload and reboot?
That said, the company may have other motives.
In a note Tuesday before the CZR results came out, Susquehanna Analyst Joe Stauff Caesars has suggested that marketing should be put on hold while the core sportsbook product is built from scratch.
“We believe Caesars launched a digital product before it was ready,” Stauff said. “We have continued to see how effective promotional spend is in driving user growth, but when the user experience is poor, it is fleeting.”
ups and downs of new york
over in New YorkAccording to Reeg, Caesars’ launch and subsequent market share was double what was expected.
as a result, 500,000 Customers who have signed up since launch.For comparison, DraftKings said it signed up last week 300,000 First month NY user.
Caesars’ market share appears to have plummeted since it reduced sign-up offers, but Reeg downplayed the impact of that promotion.
“The average deposit in New York was about $450,” he said. “So the results in New York weren’t driven by his many $3,000 deposits in response to the offer. It was hundreds of thousands of small customers who came to our site. .”
wave of demand
league likened the New York launch to drinking from a garden hose as a kid.
“as if A tsunami came and hit you. It was completely surprising demand in New York,” League said. “In his first two days of service in New York, he had 75,000 inquiries on the customer service portal.”
Of course, many of these calls were caused by broken apps, and users were frustrated by their perceived lack of customer support.
empire expansion
Reeg predicts the Caesars Sportsbook will have a more “modest” launch in 2020. Pennsylvania, Illinois When Ontario Q2 2022.
“These are existing markets where you have to buy 100 basis points of stock at a time,” says Reeg. “So you won’t see the dramatic opening day effects that we’ve seen in New York, Arizona and Louisiana.”
Caesars is Ohio When Maryland Second half of this year.
Other Key Takeaways from CZR’s Fourth Quarter Earnings Call
- No to NFT – Reeg was asked if Caesars could enter a high-margin NFT business like DraftKings. “Absolutely not,” Lee replied. “I will talk about what is a high flow-through business and a high profit margin business. That is the casino business.”
- How many digital winners are there? “There’s plenty of room in this space for multiple success stories,” says Reeg. “I think there are at least three or four, and we’re going to be one of them.”
- How does Caesars use cash flow? “Obviously, it will depend on what the valuation looks like,” Reeg explained.
market reaction
Truthist Analyst Barry Jonas Repeated his buy rating for the stock.
In a note, Truist said:
“The track record of our management team gives us confidence in our long-term digital ROI with a superior wholly-owned omnichannel strategy.”
Good news for everyone else?
Stauf We predicted that the Caesars cut would help DraftKings’ profit margins.
“This will contribute to a more normalized level of spending on customer acquisition and retention,” Stauff said.
Its more sensible promotional environment benefits nearly all other operators. It may also attract people like bet365 When Fanatic, Those who sit on the sidelines as their customers’ economics improve.