Online betting giant bet365 stated that its strategy will remain largely unchanged for the 2025/26 financial year and beyond after declaring revenue of £4bn as of March 2025.
The group’s accounts for the 2024/25 financial year, filed with Companies House, showed revenue growth of 9% from £3.7bn the year prior driven by 5% growth in sports betting and 2% growth in casino gaming.
However, 2025 did throw a few curveballs in the company’s way which had a financial impact, primarily entries into new markets and reorganisation costs as a result of shutting down existing ones – biting into profits.
bet365’s profit takes a hit
While its revenue is a formidable figure, bet365’s profit for the 2024/25 financial year is a different matter.
Group accounts detailed a fall in profit before tax from £596m in 2023/24 to £349m in 2024/25. Operating profit also fell from £365.7m to £217.4m, and total profit for the financial period was down from £506.5m to £338.5m.
So, why was this? The answer is, as expected, rising costs. Direct costs rose from £686.8m to £896.5m with a ‘significant increase in costs’ as a result of entering new locally regulated markets.
The past year has seen bet365 set itself up in markets on both sides of the Atlantic, including Peru, Brazil, multiple US states like Illinois, Tennessee, Kansas and Maryland, and closer to home, France and Serbia.
“We continued to expand our footprint in both North and South America, including the establishment and subsequently, post períod end, the purchase of a new office in Denver, Colorado,” the firm’s statement, signed off by Founder and CEO Denise Coates, read.
These new market launches required substantial investment in local product development, marketing and hiring, among other things, as well as opening the group up to new taxes, like France’s new iCasino tax.
As well as launching in new markets, the group also exited some this year, like China back in Q2. These exits were due to these markets no longer fitting ‘within the long-term sustainable revenue category’, and contributed to restructuring and reorganisation costs of £59.2m, in turn contributing to administrative expenses coming in at £324.7m.
Bet365 is not looking back
As well as exposure to new taxes, paying new licence fees and setting up local teams, bet365 also clearly undertook a lot of investment in product development in 2024/25 in both new and existing markets.
This saw upgrades initiated to its website, mobile app, bet builder, bet boost and virtual sports product range. Changes to the app and website in particular began ahead of the Euro 2024 and Copa America 2024 last summer, while new sports like darts and handball were added to the bet builder product.
Additional product enhancements included wider rollouts of in-play and pre-match options across the firm’s range of active markets, alongside expanded coverage of virtual horse racing, football, basketball and baseball.
Changes were also made on the casino side of things, such as a change of approach by unifying all of its gaming products under one casino vertical and a series of casino-focused partnerships with prominent suppliers.
As bet365 prepares to head into 2026, it appears to be maintaining the same course of operations. After all, the firm remains profitable despite costs biting into the figure, and revenue is up.
The statement explained: “The Group will continue with its long-standing policy of pursuing licences in locally regulated markets and, given its experience, believes it is well placed to benefit long-term in those countries where commercially viable regulation is adopted, prioritising those markets which will deliver long-term sustainable revenues.”
However, the global betting industry knows what is ahead of it in 2026, the same bogeyman that has kept it awake at night throughout 2025 – the taxman. Bet365’s global profile could be both a blessing and a curse in this regard.
As of March 2025, bet365’s global footprint remains formidable, with licences held in Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Brazil, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Gibraltar, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Ontario, Peru, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, and the US.
Like other UK companies, bet365 will have to bear the brunt of the 2026 budget unveiled by Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, earlier this year. From April 2026 onwards it will have to pay 40% tax on online gambling gross gaming revenue (GGR), though it could benefit from seizing market share from smaller companies that fall at the taxation hurdle.
The group’s international exposure may come in handy here, with revenue from the Americas and other European nations making up for the hit to profits in the UK – though markets like the Netherlands will continue to pose their own taxation challenges.
Regardless, the group remains profitable, and continues to be a big earner for its owners, the Coates family. As of March 2025, bet365 dividends to its owners of £353.6m – three times the £110m dividends seen in 2023/24.