Cyberattacks provide sour note for Evolution’s end of year 2024 financial report

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Evolution’s CEO Martin Carlesund has flagged ongoing cyberattacks in Asia as an ongoing issue in the company’s 2024 financial reports, providing a dampener on a successful year for the live casino giants. 

The cyberattacks raise problems for Evolution, who have continued to grow elsewhere, including increased net revenue in Q4 everywhere except for Asia; where it remained flat. Although, net revenue increased 10.7% in Asia, compared previous year, going up to £167.4m.

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During a post-report earnings call, with analysts on 30 January, Carlesund said he believed that “someone is stealing our products”, but he was not sure as to who is behind the attacks. 

He stated: “It would be very speculative for me to answer that, I simply do not know exactly who. If I would know, it would be easier. You can look at it like someone having a movie downloaded on Pirate Bay or Netflix. It’s the same. You don’t know."

Whilst unsure as to why Asia is the predominant area for these issues, he has stated that the “technical barriers” they were implementing to address said problems will be “valid all over the network.” 

Commentating in the report, Carlesund said:  

“During the past year Evolution has strengthened its position as the world’s leading provider and innovator of online casino games.  

“However, it has also been a year in which we have handled several challenges such as the sabotage activities towards our Georgian studio, cyberattacks in the Asia region and also an increased tax-rate.” 

He added: “We saw strong momentum in the final quarter of the year in North America, Latin America and Europe. Development in Asia is flat versus the previous quarter as we continue to face challenges from cyberattacks towards our video distribution in the region.” 

This issue has caused Evolution to face a review from the UKGC into their supplier licence, having found that their games were being used by UK operators without a licence.  

The review could have a “range of outcomes”, including the revocation of its UK licence, although Carlesund reiterated his company’s committed support to the UK-licensed operators in December, stating:  

“We are now taking forceful action using all technical tools available to us to ensure that our games are only available in the UK through Commission-licensed operators.” 

It has been a successful year for the online casino games provider, having seen overall net revenue increase 14.7% from 2023, rising to £1.7bn.

The fourth quarter reflected that continuation of growth, with the net revenue amounting to £444m, which shows a 12.3% increase with the corresponding period in 2023.  

Within Q4, live games garnered £382m in revenue, while £61.9m came from RNG (random number generator) table games, which is believed to come down to an increased commission income from existing and new customers, as the demand for online casino games grows. Net profit also increased by 16.2%, up to £1.03bn. 

2025 is set to be a year of further expansion for Evolution, with Carlesund stating: 

“For 2025 our first priority continues to be growth and to increase market share in the expanding online casino market.  

“Expansion will continue in 2025 - with a slightly more expensive resource mix, taking into account the situation in Asia and a strengthened focus on regulated markets we expect to see an effect on margin.  

“We estimate the EBITDA margin for full-year 2025 to be in the range of 66-68%. We have scalability in our business model and in the longer term there is good opportunity for higher margins.” 

The end of year results from 2024 also marked CFO Jacob Kaplan’s last reporting in the role, after nine years in the position. Joakim Andersson is set to replace Kaplan, with effect from 18 February.