German lottery group ZEAL Network has reported yet another strong end to a calendar year, declaring growth across both revenue and active customer numbers.
The group stated that this was achieved despite ‘challenging conditions’ such as a ‘more subdued jackpot situation’ compared with 2024, which doesn’t lend itself well to customer acquisition.
News of large jackpots being won by lucky punters are usually excellent engagement-driving occasions for lotteries.
However, in 2025 ZEAL’s maximum jackpot of €120m (£103.8m) in the Eurojackpot was only hit four times and the average jackpot level of €35m was ‘significantly lower’ than the €52.7m in 2024.
Despite this, ZEAL remained pleased with its performance on the customer acquisition front.
“Against this backdrop, we are delighted to report that we were able to further expand our customer base and successfully activate our existing customers,” a statement signed off by ZEAL’s management team read.
Overall, ZEAL declared revenue of €218.5m in 2025, up 16% from €188.2m the year prior. THis was driven by an 8% increase in active lottery customers per month from 1,436 to 1,558.
EBITDA, meanwhile, was up 11% from €61.9m to €68.8m. On a segmented basis, lotteries revenue was up 16% from €168.3m to €195.3m while games revenue was up 46% from €9.9m to €14.4m.
Andrea Behrendt, ZEAL’s Chief Financial Officer, said: “We continue to grow while systematically raising our operational efficiency.
“This is improving our profitability – with the clear goal of making further targeted and sustainable investments in the development of our business, our products and our strategic growth initiatives.”
ZEAL is now looking ahead to what it expects to be another productive year for the company, building on the addition of a new brand to its portfolio last year.
The firm launched charity lottery Traumhausverlosung last year, with Luisa Haxel appointed as a Managing Director. The brand sits alongside its popular traditional lottery products of Lotto24 and Tipp24.
As with previous years, however, 2025 did see an increase in expenses – personal expenses were up 22% to €38.5m and marketing expenses also rose 20% to €68.6m, a common theme for the Hamburg-based company.
Dr Stefan Tweraser, ZEAL’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “2025 has shown that our strategy is working: we are successfully developing our core business while simultaneously establishing new growth drivers with new, scalable products.
“This diversification makes zeal more resilient and gives us the freedom to pursue our ambitious growth targets.”