Last year was a bumpy ride for most casino companies. And while it faced many challenges on the land-based operations front, Rush Street Interactive had a fruitful 2020.
The Chicago-based parent company of the BetRivers brand well-known in Pennsylvania, Rush Street posted strong revenue and ended the year on a high note, taking $RSI stock public on the NYSE.
In RSI’s earnings report released this week, investors were likely pleased to see revenue of $100 million for Q4, a 260% increase year-over-year, and full year revenue up even more YoY.
As with most US casino companies that came out of 2020 unscathed financially, the source of revenue growth for RSI was from online gambling streams. Monthly active users (MAU) for RSI’s real-money betting products increased 22% from Q3 to Q4 and 116% YoY for Q4. Average revenue per MAU for Q4 was $328.
$RSI stock opened at $16.12 on March 10, the day of the earnings call, and rose 18% to close Friday at $19.04.
Greg Carlin, CEO of RSI, said:
“We are proud to be reporting our first financial results as a public company. Throughout 2020, RSI continued its rapid expansion in both new and existing markets achieving revenue growth of 337%.
Major online growth for Rush Street in 2020
To start 2020, Rush Street had online casinos in two states and online sports betting in three states. It now has online casino in three states and online sportsbooks live in eight states. RSI most recently launched casino and sports betting in Michigan and sports betting only in Virginia.
Perhaps RSI’s biggest win in 2020 was finishing as the second largest US online casino operator in terms of gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the year (and for Q4), according to Eilers & Krejcik.
Other Full Year 2020 financial highlights:
- Revenue of $278.5 million, up 337% over $63.7 million in 2019.
- US monthly active users up 165% YoY; average revenue per MAU $341 in 2020.
- Adjusted EBITDA $4.4 million compared to -$7.8 million in 2019.
- Marketing expenses $56.5 million (20% of revenue) compared to $28.3 million in 2019.
- Cash flow worth $255 million as of Dec. 31, 2020.
Rush Street Interactive poised for more growth
RSI is ready to continue growing, with projected revenue for 2021 between $420 million and $460 million. That’s up from a previous estimate of $320 million. If they hit the halfway point of their projection ($440 million), it would be a 58% YoY increase.
This projection assumes the sports calendar proceeds uninterrupted and continued operations in current states with no new state launch in 2021.
According to Carlin, Rush Street is in solid position to achieve or even surpass current projections.
“Our significant cash balance at year end plus the incremental cash from our ongoing warrant redemption will allow us to significantly increase 2021 marketing spend and leverage what we believe to be industry leading acquisition costs, payback rates, and average revenue per user.
“We are significantly increasing 2021 guidance and intend to aggressively pursue opportunities for further growth now that we are better capitalized than at any time in our operating history. We are confident these additional investments will support our goal of being the leader in online casino and driving significant profitability over the long term.”
Rush Street plans to enter more markets as they become available. Recently, RSI secured market access deals in West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland and Missouri.
Lead image via Dreamstime.
