Gambling revenue in Lithuania increased 12.6% year-on-year to €116.0m (£99.3m/$126.7m) in H1 with a strong online performance mitigating a decline in land-based revenue.
Figures from the Lithuania Gaming Control Authority show H1 revenue was clear of the €108.5m reported in the same period last year.
Staring with the online market, revenue for the channel climbed 12.5% year-on-year to €72.2m. Players spent Player spending increased by 8.7’% to €1.05bn, winning $973.1m in the process.
Category A online slots – games with unlimited winnings – were undoubtedly the star of the show in H1. These slots generated €53.5m in revenue, more than any other segment across both the online and land-based market in Lithuania. Player spending on these machines also hit a market-high of €627.7m, up 6.2%.
For Category B online slots, with maximum stakes of LTL1 (€0.3) and wins limited to 200 times customer bets, revenue was flat at €1.8m in H1. In addition, online table games revenue climbed 11.7% year-on-year to €6.7m.
Sports betting revenue edged up 1.6% to €19.3m during H1, with player wagers up 2.4% to €289.0m.
Turning now to the land-based market, total revenue in this sector amounted to €34.7m, a 4.4% decline. The drop came as player stakes declined 5.6% to €217.8m.
Category B slot machines were the most popular product in the retail markets with revenue of €14.4m, though this was down 6.5%. Player wagers on these machines declined 6.5% to €92.1m.
In terms of Category A slots, revenue was 5.3% higher year-on-year at €7.9m, with staking edging up 4.7% to €31.8m.
Meanwhile, revenue from table games dropped 9.1% to €8.0m, while sports betting revenue fell 6.4% to €4.4m.
Separate to the main figures, the Lithuania Gaming Control Authority also published data on lotteries. During the first half, gross gaming revenue from lotteries amounted to €32.7m, a rise of 6.2%.
Ticket sales were 4.0% higher year-on-year at €70.9m, with total ticket sales up 1.1% to 50.4 million. Player winnings increased 2.3% to €38.1m.
From this gambling activity across all channels, the market generated tax revenue of €37.6m. Of this total €24.1m came from gambling operators and €13.5m lottery providers.
