In its first quarter investor call late Wednesday, Rush Street Interactive (RSI), which owns the BetRivers brand, singled out the performance in three of its top online casino markets: Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
In the Great Lakes State, BetRivers Casino Michigan produced the best quarter ever in terms of revenue. BetRivers said it has been able to grow its user account during that time period.
Despite trailing the usual market leaders of FanDuel, BetMGM and DraftKings, BetRivers has solidified itself as the fourth-best operator in Michigan.
BetRivers produces best quarter ever – up 53% over previous quarter
Michigan online casinos delivered a strong first three months of the year, generating $585.2 million in YTD revenue. It culminated with a $215.2 million performance in March, which set a state record.
BetRivers is a big part of that, as it regularly finishes fourth behind the aforementioned market leaders. Q1 2024 saw BetRivers produce the following revenue totals:
- January: $11.5 million
- February: $12.1 million
- March: $12.8 million
The total of $36.4 million in a single quarter easily set a record for BetRivers in Michigan. The site was up 53% when compared to $23.8 million in revenue in the fourth quarter (October-December 2023) and up 40.5% when compared to the same Q1 from 2023 ($25.9 million).
RSI CEO Richard Schwartz said on the call:
“While our newer market continued to be strong growth, we also saw a resurgence from some of our more mature markets. During the quarter, our three largest online casino markets in North America: Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, each had our highest year-over-year revenue growth rates in the last two years. Our focus on the iCasino experience is resonating with new and existing customers, driving very solid growth in these existing markets.”
Rush Street revealed that revenue from markets other than Pennsylvania and Illinois, which includes Michigan, accounted for 57% of revenue during the first quarter.
Reasons for BetRivers’ online casino ascension in Michigan
BetRivers touted its decrease in marketing and advertising spend on the call. Overall, the $37.8 million spent was a year-over-year decrease of 23%.
However, the operator’s promotional spend in Michigan has ticked up in recent months and coincides with the strong performance.
BetRivers has spent at least $1 million in online casino promotions every month since October. Revenue has increased in each of those months except one. Before October, BetRivers had spent more than $1 million on promotions just once since launching in the Great Lakes State.
RSI also disclosed it improved its monthly average users (MAU) 20% year-over-year and average revenue per monthly user (ARPMAU) 9% to $355.
“The user counts and the growth that we had this past quarter and even going back to Q4, it’s very balanced between players that are playing iCasino, playing sports or playing both,” CFO Kyle Sauers said on the call. “So I think there’s an element of us bringing new people into the ecosystem, the gaming ecosystem and us getting more share.”
BetRivers did not divulge Michigan-specific statistics. However, the growth in revenue indicates that the Great Lakes State has been contributing greatly to BetRivers’ strong position in the market.
Rush Street Interactive beats estimates in Q1 2024, closing in on profitability
RSI had a strong Q1 2024, delivering $217.4 million in revenue, a 34% increase from last year. The company is coming close to profitability, registering a net loss of $2.2 million compared to a $24.2 million loss at this time last year.
RSI’s stock also sits at $7.72, which is up 105% over the last six months. Zacks Equity Research said that RSI has surpassed estimates in each of the last four quarters. The company said in a report:
“Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Rush Street Interactive: favorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company’s just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for the stock.”
That has RSI in a good spot when it comes to its gambling position in the market, especially in Michigan.
