MultiChoice Nigeria’s sports betting subsidiary, KingMakers, has reported a remarkable 76% increase in revenue for the financial year ending March 31, 2025, reaching $106 million. This growth highligts a rising appetite for sports betting in Nigeria, even as the company faces a decline in its traditional PayTV subscriber base for DStv and GOtv services.
The surge in KingMakers’ revenue is attributed to an influx of higher-quality first-time bettors and a boost in its higher-margin online betting operations, according to MultiChoice Group’s financial report. Although the company did not disclose the exact number of customers in the latest report, it had previously recorded a 37% growth in betting customers and a 26% revenue increase in the 2024 financial year.
Despite the revenue growth in local currency terms, MultiChoice noted a 30% drop in reported revenue when converted to U.S. dollars, due to the weakening of the Nigerian Naira. The Nigerian business remained EBITDA positive, but overall KingMakers posted an EBITDA loss of $9 million, impacted by investments in launching SuperSportBet in South Africa and currency fluctuations.
MultiChoice’s strategic pivot to betting began with acquiring a 20% stake in Nigerian online sports betting company BetKing in 2020, later increasing its holding to 49% in 2021 for $281.5 million. Leveraging its extensive sports coverage, MultiChoice aims to capitalize on the rapidly growing African sports betting market, which KPMG projects to reach $37 billion by 2022, with online betting revenues expected to nearly double by 2027.
The company holds a strong cash position of $97 million to support its growth ambitions, signaling confidence in the betting sector’s potential despite challenges in its core PayTV business.
