Sportradar’s unregulated revenue sits at between 5% and 13%, CEO Carsten Koerl told analysts yesterday during its Q1 earnings call. The insight came amid analyst probes on two short-selling reports last week which alleged Sportradar was working with a host of unlicensed platforms.
In a report released last week, Callisto Research estimated the figure could exceed 270. Its report claimed that a former senior employee of Sportradar had informed them that unlicensed operators could make up between 30% and 40% of the data giant’s revenue mix.
A seperate report from Muddy Waters, meanwhile, claimed that a member of Sportradar’s sales team had said the company “serves everyone” at ICE Barcelona 2026. At the time Muddy Waters investigators had said the were targeting current illegal markets Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and China, all of which enforce a ban on online gambling.
The reports led to Sportradar’s share price plummeting 22.6% by close on Wednesday, after being shorted by Callisto Research and Muddy Waters.
Koerl responded on LinkedIn the following day, describing the reports as “false, misleading and defamatory”.
After Sportradar published its Q1 earnings on Tuesday, analysts pressed company execs on the reports, with Koerl asked to quantify just how much of the business’ revenue mix stemmed from working with unlicensed operators.
“We do not work with black market operators,” Koerl stated on the post-Q1 earnings call. “For the grey market, we have a solid compliance structure in place,and we only work with licensed operators.
“Overall, it’s [between] 5% to 12%, 13%. That’s the range which we have, and we are drilling this down from our operational business.”
CEO Koerl again rebuffs reports
Koerl opened the analyst call by directly addressing the short seller allegations, labelling them as “self-interested” and claiming they intended to actively drive down Sportradar’s stock price.
“To be clear, Sportradar and I reject the unfounded and misinformed allegations contained in the reports,” Koerl said. “For 25 years, Sportradar has maintained regulatory licenses in jurisdictions around the world.
“Unfortunately, these actors strive on misinformation and repackaging historical allegations to drive down company stock prices at the expense of long-term focused investors.”
Koerl was questioned on how leagues and operting partners had responsed to the reports.
He said the feedback had been largely positive, explaining: “I get a lot of support from all sites, our partners, our clients, the industry, some commissioners. And from a regulator perspective, we are in contact with some regulators on a very frequent basis.
“Some of them contacted our teams, they explained to them the situation and that’s an ongoing process. Overall, the response was overwhelming for me that I got so much support and feedback on the allegations.”
Koerl addresses ICE allegations
Koerl also discussed allegations that a member of Sportradar’s sales team had offered to introduce Muddy Waters’ investigators to Yabo Group, China’s largest illegal operator.
According to Koerl, Muddy Waters specifically targeted a junior member of Sportradar’s sales team, claiming the company had held a mammoth 4,000 meetings during the event.
Sportradar reportedly interviewed the salesperson in question after, with Koerl stating the Muddy Waters report did not reflect all of their statements, and clarified that discussions at events are right at the start of the sales process.
He went on to detail the ” very intensive KYC process” in place when Sportradar sources a new parter.
“When a sales guy is selling something, there is a kickoff of a very intensive KYC process,” Koerl said. “That has the identification, the verification, the licence verification against the regulator, the verification of a corporate filing and the register, which is in there. Then finally, running this through sanction lists from all the available markets where we are acting. And then it goes to a final review of our legal counsel before a contract is signed.
“So this is far off from signing a contract, and this was a purposeful sting campaign on a relatively young sales employee at ICE.
“[There’s] no excuse on this, [it] should not happen, but this was far off from signing a contract or teasing somebody into doing business in illegal markets.”
Sportradar reports Q1 loss
Within its results Sportradar posted a loss of €6 million in Q1, despite revenue rising by 11% to €347 million during the period.
The increase in revenue led to adjusted EBITDA growing 12% year-on-year to €66 million.
Sportradar also announced the appointment of Sameer Deen as COO, effective from 18 May. Deen joins from Entain where he has served as the group’s COO and president since December 2023.
Koerl said he expected Deen to prove “instrumental” in driving Sportradar’s commercial efforts and optimising its operations.
Commenting on Sportradar’s Q1, Koerl said: “We will continue to drive innovation across our business, uphold the highest levels of integrity and transparency while delivering increasing value to our clients, our partners and our shareholders.
“The underlying fundamentals of the business remain strong, and we are confident in our growth strategy and the opportunities ahead.”
Kyle Goldsmith
Kyle has been with Clarion since December 2023, joining from the world of sports journalism, subsequently becoming a LatAm-facing senior reporter with iGB.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/offshore-gaming/sportradar-unregulated-revenues-ceo-carsten-koerl/
