GGR Meaning
It is important to understand the meaning of GGR. It is often refered to in annual reports of Gambling companies and is amongst the key indicators when assessing the performance of a company.
GGR stands for Gross Gaming Revenue and is calculated as the amount wagered minus the amount won.
In other industries it would be equivalent to sales or revenue. Gambling is unique as customers spend money, but the website gives most of the money back in winnings. So measuring Turnover does not make sense, unlike other industries.
GGR Margin
The GGR margin is the Gross Gaming Revenue calculated as a percentage. The measure is calculated as the Gross Gaming Revenue divided by the Amount wagered
Example
The GGR percentage is quite consistent for casino but erratic for sports betting. Sports betting GGR is dependent on sports events, sometimes the bookies get the odds wrong, and players win more than predicted. Sometimes it goes the other way, and the sports results favour the bookmakers. The GGR meaning for sports betting in my opinion is a more relevant KPI than when looking at Casino GGR.
| Sports wagered | $700,000 |
| Sports winnings | $609,000 |
| Sports GGR | $91,000 |
| GGR margin | 13% |
For casino the gross gaming revenue is much more consistent, players are mainly playing slot games whose results are decided by Random Number Generators (RNGs). These RNG games are tested and regulated to produce a consistent RTP. Other casino product are Live Casino games like Roulette and Blackjack. These games are also designed to produce a consistent return.
| Casino wagered | $500,000 |
| Casino winnings | $465,000 |
| Casino GGR | $35,000 |
| GGR margin | 7% |
Useful to understand the GGR meaning, but use with other indicators
GGR is a good KPI to understand the size of a gambling company. It is good for efficiency of pricing in sports betting vs. other operators, also how large the company is in terms of revenue. It doesn’t show how efficient the company is in controlling its operating costs.
EBITDA
GGR is essentially the revenue, but it doesn’t consider any costs. Marketing, staff, finance etc. EBITDA stands for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization. Basically, its all the earnings of a company minus the internal company operating costs of Marketing, staff, finance, offices etc. For gambling companies earnings will be the Gross Gaming Revenue. EBITDA % is a good metric to understand the efficiency of the company.