US racing products and Latin America drove trading ahead of expectations. The supplier warns that 2027 will feel competition, Brazil’s shutdown and a full year of higher UK duty.
Playtech has raised its profit expectations for 2026. The gambling technology supplier said on 10 November that trading has run ahead of plan, led by the Americas. It also warned that three pressures will weigh more heavily in 2027: competition in its most successful new US product, the shutdown of Brazil’s betting market, and the first full year of higher online gambling tax in the UK.
In a trading statement to the London Stock Exchange covering 1 July to 31 October 2026, the company said it now expects adjusted EBITDA for the year to 31 December 2026 to be “over €300 million”. That is above the analyst consensus it published.
The numbers
Playtech said analyst forecasts for its 2026 adjusted EBITDA had ranged from €271 million to €285 million before the update, with a mean of €279 million across seven analysts whose estimates had been updated since its half-year results. It excluded two analysts with older estimates. For 2027, the same analysts’ consensus is €266 million. Playtech did not give its own figure for 2027.
The update follows strong first-half results, published on 10 September 2026. On its investor website, Playtech reports first-half group revenue of €425.1 million, adjusted EBITDA of €162.5 million, a net cash position of €39.2 million, and revenue growth of 176% at constant currency in the US and Canada.
What drove the year
The main driver is in the United States. After what it called an extended period of investment in a product based on Past Motor Racing (PMR) results, Playtech said it “benefitted materially from being first to market” with it through its partnership with Hard Rock Digital in the first half of the year. It added that PMR revenues “continued to perform strongly” in the second half.
Latin America also helped. Chief executive Mor Weizer said Mexico and Colombia had “benefitted from tailwinds after the Men’s FIFA World Cup”. In its half-year statement, Playtech also pointed to growth in Latin America through its revised agreement with Caliente Interactive in Mexico.
“We have continued to deliver an excellent performance in 2026 to date, reflecting sustained momentum in regulated markets, notably the Americas,” Weizer said in the statement.
The three warnings for 2027
The update is also cautious about the year ahead. Weizer named three factors he expects to shape 2027 performance.
The first is competition in PMR. Playtech said that, “as previously flagged”, the introduction of other third-party PMR suppliers “is underway” and is now expected to have “a more material impact on Playtech’s wallet share into 2027”. Being first to market gave Playtech a lead. The company now says that lead will narrow.
The second is Brazil. President Lula da Silva’s Provisional Measure 1,394, signed on 25 September 2026, banned fixed-odds betting and forced licensed operators to shut down. Playtech said it expects to be able to absorb the three-month impact on adjusted EBITDA in 2026, “with a more significant impact expected in 2027 should the existing market shutdown not be lifted”. The ban is being challenged at Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court. On 8 November, Justice Luiz Fux suspended all lower-court cases against the measure until the full court rules. Congress must also decide whether to turn the measure into law.
The third is UK tax. Remote Gaming Duty, the UK’s tax on online casino-style gambling, rose from 21% to 40% on 1 April 2026, as confirmed in other operators’ filings. Playtech said it “continues to absorb the full impact” of the increase, with “a full year of impact to come in 2027 alongside increased taxation across other European markets”. The statement does not quantify the effect.
The tax increase is affecting the whole UK market. On the same day, Athens-listed Bally’s Intralot said the duty increase had a gross negative impact of about €68 million on adjusted EBITDA across the first nine months of 2026 for its international interactive business, nearly half of which it had offset.
Who is affected
Playtech’s update matters to more than its shareholders. The company describes itself as a business-to-business technology provider to the online betting and gaming industry, operating in more than 50 regulated and regulating jurisdictions with over 7,400 staff in 20 countries. It supplies platform technology, casino and live-casino content, and sports betting products to operators. When it warns about wallet share, a market closure or tax, it is describing pressures its operator customers face as well.
The shift in Playtech’s own shape adds context. The company has completed the sale of Snaitech, its Italian business-to-consumer operation, and says on its investor site that it has declared a €1.8 billion dividend following the sale. That leaves the group more dependent on its B2B relationships, so changes in its customers’ markets and margins pass more directly into its results.
What happens next
Playtech said it remains confident in “the underlying strength of the business” and is working towards the “top-end” of its medium-term targets. It did not restate those targets in the update or give guidance for 2027, beyond pointing to the consensus figure.
Three events will shape that 2027 figure: how quickly rival PMR suppliers gain share with Hard Rock Digital and other US partners; whether Brazil’s ban survives the Supreme Court and Congress; and how UK operators adjust their marketing and product spending to the higher duty. Playtech’s full-year 2026 results will be the next point at which the company quantifies those effects.
Sources
- https://www.tradingview.com/news/reuters.com,2026-11-10:newsml_RSJ4329Ca:0-reg-playtech-plc-trading-update/
- https://www.investors.playtech.com/
- https://www.investors.playtech.com/regulatory-news
- https://sbcnews.co.uk/igaming/2026/11/10/playtech-q3-update/
- https://ballysintralot.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/PR_3Q26_EN_Final.pdf
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