HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - An increase in the number of customers has given lottery broker Zeal Network an increase in revenue at the start of 2023. Lottery tickets rose six percent year-on-year to 26.7 million euros in the first quarter, the company announced in Hamburg on Thursday. Operating profit (Ebitda) rose by a good 0.4 million euros to 9.3 million euros. However, the bottom line fell by 12 percent to 4.4 million euros due to higher taxes. The company, which is listed on the small-cap index SDax, confirmed its targets for the year.

Sales are expected to rise to between 110 and 120 million euros in 2023, following a good 105 million last year. However, as the company spends a lot of money on acquiring new customers and marketing, operating profit will not necessarily increase. The company expects to generate 30 to 35 million euros, compared with just under 32 million.

The provider of lottery products is mainly active under the brands Lotto24.de and tipp24.com. Zeal brokers tickets from customers to the state lottery companies and collects brokerage commissions. At the beginning of April, the Zeal Network subsidiary Lotto24 was granted permission to organize virtual slot machine games on the Internet./mis/stk