{"id":3985,"date":"2025-06-17T04:33:46","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T07:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=3985"},"modified":"2026-04-19T16:18:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T19:18:38","slug":"multichoices-sports-betting-arm-wins-big-with-76-revenue-surge-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/multichoices-sports-betting-arm-wins-big-with-76-revenue-surge-in-nigeria","title":{"rendered":"MultiChoice&#8217;s sports betting arm wins big with 76% revenue surge in Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite currency headwinds and Pay-TV woes, Multichoice\u2019s sports betting arm nets $106m as it doubles down on digital wagering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nigeria.- In a bold twist of fortune, MultiChoice\u2019s sports betting arm, <strong>KingMakers <\/strong>(operator of Nigeria\u2019s <strong>BetKing)<\/strong> has reported a substantial 76 per cent jump in revenue, raking in $106m for the financial year ending 31 March 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This sharp spike comes amid turbulent times for the parent company, which continues to wrestle with declining <strong>DStv and GOtv<\/strong> subscriber numbers across Africa. But while Pay-TV might be losing steam, it\u2019s clear <strong>sports betting<\/strong> is proving to be the group\u2019s new MVP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBetKing Nigeria has maintained strong momentum,\u201d<strong> MultiChoice <\/strong>noted in its latest financial update, according to the New National Star publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;\u201cWe\u2019re acquiring higher-quality first-time bettors, shown by increased average wager per user, and seeing significant growth in our higher-margin online business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although exact user numbers weren\u2019t disclosed this time around, KingMakers previously reported a 37 per cent surge in Nigerian customers and a 26 per cent rise in revenue in 2024. But not all the numbers are winning tickets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The group was hit by a 30 per cent decline in reported revenue due to currency translation losses, thanks to the battered Naira. Despite the local business remaining EBITDA positive, the overall balance sheet took a hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The launch of SupersportBet<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company made mention of the launch of <strong>SupersportBet in South Africa<\/strong> and how it impacted the overall business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhile the Nigerian business remained EBITDA positive, the launch of SuperSportBet in South Africa and the currency impact led to a $9m EBITDA loss, compared to a $3m profit the year before,\u201d the company stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, KingMakers has enough financial firepower to keep placing bets on future growth. The business boasts $97m in cash reserves as of December 2024, ample runway for its African expansion plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MultiChoice first entered Nigeria\u2019s betting arena in 2020, buying a 20 per cent stake in BetKing for R1.3 billion. That stake has since grown to 49 per cent at a total investment of $281.5m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Strategically, the media giant is leveraging its <strong>sports broadcasting dominance <\/strong>to fuel its betting empire. With 77 per cent of DStv viewers actively engaged in betting or match predictions, the synergy is a natural fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the market is ripe for growth. <strong>KPMG <\/strong>forecasts online betting revenues in Africa to reach $5.5bn by 2027, with sports betting leading the charge. With BetKing\u2019s surge, MultiChoice is already cashing in.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label\">See also:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/Web-image-53-1024x597-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href='https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/betking-backs-para-sports-at-nigerias-sports-festival'>BetKing backs para-sports at Nigeria&#8217;s Sports Festival<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite currency headwinds and Pay-TV woes, Multichoice\u2019s sports betting arm nets $106m as it doubles down on digital wagering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2396,"featured_media":3988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"MultiChoice's sports betting arm, KingMakers (BetKing), reported a substantial 76% revenue increase to $106m for FY2025, driven by digital wagering growth in Nigeria, despite significant currency headwinds and declining Pay-TV subscribers. The group is strategically leveraging its sports broadcasting assets for betting synergy and plans further African expansion, supported by $97m in cash reserves.","focusai_entities":"MultiChoice, KingMakers, BetKing, DStv, GOtv, New National Star, SuperSportBet, KPMG","focusai_location":"Nigeria, South Africa, Africa","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (0.7), compliance_legal (0.7), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.7), marketing_crm (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Naira Impact Mitigation?","query":"What specific hedging strategies or operational adjustments is MultiChoice implementing to mitigate the ongoing impact of Naira depreciation on KingMakers' reported revenue and overall profitability?"},{"label":"SuperSportBet Strategy?","query":"How does the SuperSportBet launch in South Africa align with MultiChoice's broader pan-African iGaming strategy, and what are the projected timelines for achieving EBITDA positivity for this new venture?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60017,60012],"tags":[60037,60036,78],"class_list":["post-3985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sportsbetting-news","category-west-africa","tag-finance","tag-igaming","tag-sports-betting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3985"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3997,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3985\/revisions\/3997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}