German online lottery operator ZEAL Network has reported a strong set of H1 2025 results, underlining the resilience of its business model despite a tough jackpot environment.
The Hamburg-headquartered group posted a 32% year-on-year revenue increase to €101.5m, while EBITDA surged by 76% to €35.4m, which the firm explained was bolstered by margin improvements and an expanding customer base.
The half-year update also reveals that ZEAL continues to tighten its grip on the German market through marketing, growing monthly active users in its lottery segment by 12% to 1.515 million, with lottery revenue climbing 34% to €91m.
This comes even as average jackpots for LOTTO 6aus49 and Eurojackpot came in below last year’s levels.
Helmut Becker, ZEAL CEO, commented: “We once again achieved strong results in the first half of 2025. ZEAL’s continued growth path proves that our business model is highly robust and scalable over the long term.
“We are in an excellent position to further expand our market leadership in a growing industry.”
Solid lottery core
The group’s lottery billings rose by 4% to €527.3m, which was attributed to successful marketing initiatives and a price adjustment carried out in 2024.
Furthermore, looking to reflect an improved product mix and stronger unit economics, ZEAL also delivered a gross margin uplift of 3.8 percentage points to 17.3%. Meanwhile, ZEAL’s B2C games vertical continues to gain momentum, with revenue from its growing portfolio of more than 480 games titles rising 49% to €6.7m.
“Our half-year results are a true team success – especially given that the jackpot situation was rather weak compared to the previous year,” added CFO Andrea Behrendt.
“Challenging market conditions particularly underscore our operational excellence. The significant increases in revenue and EBITDA were driven by further expansion of our customer base and profitability.”
Marketing spend up
Lower jackpot levels made customer acquisition more challenging in H1 2025, with ZEAL bringing in 499,000 new customers, down from 592,000 a year earlier.
Despite a 41% jump in cost per lead to €46.93, the company continued to invest in long-term growth, raising strategic marketing spend by 14% to €29.1m.
Total operating costs rose 15% to €49.4m, driven by increased spend on areas like software development. However, EBITDA still grew faster than revenue, while EBIT nearly doubled to €31.1m.
The latest reports continue strong growth momentum from ZEAL. In Q1 2025 alone, the group reported a 42% year-on-year revenue increase, rising from €36.1m to €51.1m, while EBITDA nearly doubled, climbing 89% to €17.7m.