Playtech Reports Strong H1 2026 Results Under Mor Weizer and Chris McGinnis

Playtech has reported its Playtech H1 2026 results, posting revenue of €425.1m for the six months to 30 June 2026, up 10% year on year, and a 77% rise in adjusted EBITDA to €162.5m. Operating margin widened sharply, from 19% to 30%. The lift came overwhelmingly from the Americas, where regulated growth and a strong showing from Hard Rock Bet in Florida reshaped the supplier’s profit profile in half a year.

Playtech’s Profit Rose Seven Times Faster Than Its Revenue

Start with the gap. Revenue rose 10%. Adjusted EBITDA rose 77%, nearly eight times faster than revenue. When earnings move that far ahead of sales, the story is margin, not volume. And the profit line went further still: adjusted post-tax profit reached €95.0m, up from €16.6m a year earlier.

B2B did the heavy lifting. Revenue there grew 14% to €394.8m, or 17% on an underlying basis, with adjusted EBITDA up 75% to €128.1m and B2B margin expanding from 21% to 32%. Regulated markets now account for 83% of B2B revenue, up from 81% a year earlier. Live revenue rose 8% across roughly 480 tables globally, and SaaS revenue grew 20% to reach 17% of B2B.

The B2C side, mostly Sun Bingo, shrank to €32.0m from €41.0m, though it edged into a small adjusted profit of €0.2m as the company wound down its HAPPYBET operation in Germany.

US and Canada Revenue Jumped 161% on Hard Rock Bet in Florida

The regional split is where this gets interesting. Revenue from the US and Canada rose 161% year on year, driven mainly by Games powered by PMR with Hard Rock Bet in Florida. Playtech also expanded its regulated US iGaming footprint to six states with a launch in Connecticut, alongside new go-lives with Fanatics across several states, FanDuel in West Virginia, and Bet365 in Michigan.

Latin America grew 29% on an underlying basis, led by Mexico and Colombia, with customer acquisition boosted during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Europe was steadier. B2B revenue outside the UK rose 2%, or 10% stripping out one-off hardware sales a year earlier. UK B2B revenue fell 8%, hit by customer changes and higher remote gaming duty.

€101m Free Cash Flow Is the Regulated iGaming Number That Counts

For a platform head or content director, the useful signal isn’t the 161% figure on its own. It’s what sits beneath it. An 83% regulated B2B mix, paired with margin expansion from operational leverage, is the model that’s converting growth into cash. Playtech generated €101.0m in free cash flow and ended the half with net cash of €39.2m, even after a roughly €25m share buyback. Since September 2025 it has repurchased 10% of its share capital for around €100m.

That combination, regulated concentration plus margin discipline, is the supplier posture worth benchmarking partners against. It affects who operators trust with core platform and content, and how much pricing power a supplier can hold in regulated states.

Playtech Expects a Softer H2 as the Florida Surge Normalises

Playtech is candid about the soft spot. The company expects second-half adjusted EBITDA to come in lower than the first, because the Florida surge is set to normalise, a major Brazil partnership expected to sign late in 2026 carries continued investment, and the UK faces a full half-year of remote gaming duty impact.

There’s also a one-off financial item: a full provision of €28.9m against a loan guarantee to NorthStar. It’s disclosed and specific, and worth reading in the company’s own detail rather than inferring anything from the headline.

What Comes Next for Playtech in the Regulated Gaming Market?

Playtech says it is on track for full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA of more than €270m, within its €250-300m medium-term range, and expects to reach the top end of its targets earlier than planned. The near-term watch items are clear: whether the Brazil deal signs on schedule, how far the Florida normalisation pulls down US numbers, and whether the regulated-market base can carry growth once the one-off boost fades. The half was strong, and the direction of travel toward regulated, higher-margin revenue looks durable. The real test is how much of that momentum survives a tougher second half.

Source: Playtech