Entain entered the Baltics markets with our acquisition of Enlabs, an online sports betting and gaming business, which completed in May 2021. Enlabs estimates its online market share across the region to be over 25%. Enlabs, founded in 2005, has access to fast-growing, regulated markets.
One of these markets is Estonia, where it operates four online-only brands – Optibet, NinjaCasino, BoostCasino, and Nutz – with a combined market share estimated at 20%.
We entered the country in 2013 through Optibet, our oldest and most established brand in this market. Within almost ten years, Optibet grew to become the second-largest player in the market, with the biggest supply of products across all of our brands, and up to 4,000 unique active players per month. Our success with this brand facilitated the further expansion of Enlabs through the launch of NinjaCasino in 2018, and its sister brands, BoostCasino, in 2020.
BoostCasino recently rebranded with an expanded language and bonus offering to target new audiences. This is already showing encouraging results, with the brand moving beyond its legacy customer base. Customer acquisition has doubled, with betting amounts and activity also increasing.
Before rebranding, BoostCasino didn’t have a unique selling point in either brand or product, making it impossible to attract new customers. We created a relatable, gender-neutral brand which has doubled customer acquisition.
BoostCasino and NinjaCasino also attract the highest number of female customers among Entain’s Estonian brands – 35% of the customer base. Overall, Entain customers in Estonia are around 70% male, and generally aged 26-35.
Enlabs newest offering, Nutz, is a casino-only, eye-catching, and vibrant brand. The local team is driving customer engagement and loyalty through a strong player proposition, product offering and a core understanding of what players are looking for in the local market. Demonstrating this was the brand’s ability to become profitable within four months of launching, with more than 1,000 unique active players joining in the first two months since launch.
Enlabs customers in Estonia love casino games, but sport is also a significant revenue stream in the sportsbook brands. European or World championships in football, basketball, tennis and ice hockey, are always busy times for our Estonian brands, with the most wagered-on leagues being NBA, NHL, Euroleague, Premier league, KHL, Champions League, Serie A, and Grand Slam tournaments. Entertainment events such as Eurovision also see a flurry of activity.
The market continues to see steady growth and continued to do so through the Covid-19 pandemic. Longer-term growth trends are partly attributable to the favourable regulatory environment. Online casinos and betting have been regulated since 2009, and all operators – whether online or land-based – are signed up to regulations including: a mandatory self-exclusion list, managed by the regulator; a maximum loss limit offered to all players; and a minimum age limit of 18 for betting and 21 for casinos, including poker. Gaming tax is set at 5% from GGR, one of the most attractive rates in the region.
We make sure our products stand out with a unique and differentiated offer. This allows each of our four brands to reach their full potential – especially impressive in a competitive market.
The Estonian market is continuing to develop and remains an exciting prospect for Entain brands in the region. The characteristics of this market are unique and therefore our strategy for growth must also be. Looking ahead, we see significant growth opportunity in pushing our diverse portfolio of local brands – given these are focused around the well-loved casino games in Estonia – whilst also maintaining the strong, differentiated product offering in our Optibet brand. Allowing all of our Estonian brands the opportunity to reach their full potential continues to be our main focus for standing out for customers in this market.