Sun Bingo Revenue Falls €4.5m, Playtech Silent on Its Review
Six months ago Playtech told analysts it was reviewing whether Sun Bingo could carry on under a 40% tax rate. On Wednesday it published its half-year results, the first set since that rate took effect, and nowhere in the written statement is that review mentioned.
What the results do say is blunter than the silence suggests. Sun Bingo’s revenue fell by €4.5m against the same six months a year earlier. Marketing was cut. The number of active players fell, and so did the value of each one. And Playtech now describes its whole consumer-facing division, of which Sun Bingo is nearly all that is left, as “an area of lower strategic focus”.
For anyone with an account there, that combination is worth understanding. It describes a business being run for cash rather than growth.
At a glance
- Sun Bingo revenueDown €4.5m year on year in the six months to 30 June
- Why, in Playtech’s wordsMarketing cut, fewer active players, lower player value, 40% duty
- Long-term outlook“Material deterioration”, per the results statement
- The March reviewNot mentioned anywhere in the written results
What Playtech Actually Reported
Sun Bingo is a News UK brand that Playtech has run on its behalf for around a decade. It sits in Playtech’s B2C division alongside HAPPYBET, a German betting business that is being wound down and is expected to be gone by the end of the year. Once that closes, B2C is Sun Bingo.
We read the full results statement rather than the summary, and the line that matters is in the finance director’s review. Revenue from “Sun Bingo and Other B2C” came in at €31.7m, down from €33.2m. Inside that figure, Sun Bingo itself lost €4.5m of revenue, partly masked by a €3.0m rise in the smaller “other” activities. Playtech puts the fall down to a reduction in marketing spend “as the business optimises its strategy following the increased UK RGD”, together with the continued effect of tighter regulation since the second half of 2024.
Then the sentence that should have been the headline. The fall in revenue, the statement says, reflects declining player value and active players, with the duty rise “resulting in a material deterioration of the long-term profitability outlook for Sun Bingo”.
Remote Gaming Duty rose from 21% to 40% on 1 April. It applied for three of the six months these results cover. The second half of the year will carry all six.
A Profit Figure That Flatters
On the face of it the division did better. Adjusted EBITDA for Sun Bingo and other B2C rose to €1.5m from €0.8m, and Playtech presents that as an 88% improvement. The detail underneath says otherwise.
Costs fell from €32.4m to €30.2m, a drop of €2.2m. But €2.0m of that is an accounting entry, not a saving. When the Sun Bingo contract was renegotiated in 2019, Playtech was left holding a prepaid minimum guarantee that it released as an expense each reporting period. At 31 December 2025 it wrote off whatever remained of that prepayment in one go. So last year’s comparison carried a €2.0m charge that this year’s does not.
Strip that out and the operation’s own costs fell by about €0.2m, while revenue at the line fell by €1.5m. On a like-for-like basis, by our arithmetic from the published figures, the division’s profit went from roughly €2.8m to €1.5m. Closer to a halving than an 88% rise.
Playtech names the real savings: marketing, payment processing fees, and News UK’s share of profit. That last one deserves a second look. When the partner’s share of profit is falling, it is because the profit being shared is falling.
The Review Nobody Mentioned
On 26 March 2026, presenting full-year results, Playtech’s chief financial officer Chris McGinnis told analysts the company had begun an operational review of Sun Bingo, because the 40% rate would leave it unprofitable. He also said he believed the brand had a long-term place in the portfolio. We covered that at the time. The trading update on 20 May carried no news of the review. Neither does the written half-year statement.
An absence is not a decision. But something has taken the review’s place in the language. The division is “an area of lower strategic focus”. Marketing has been pulled back. The profitability outlook has “materially deteriorated”. Those are the words a company uses about a business it is holding steady, and spending as little as possible on, while it makes up its mind.
It is also the reaction Flutter said to expect. In August the owner of tombola and Sky Bingo told investors it would hold its offers steady and gain share as smaller rivals reacted to the duty. A marketing cut booked in the first half of the year, before the full six months of 40% duty had even landed, is that reaction arriving on schedule.
What This Means if You Play at Sun Bingo
Nothing in the results changes the licence your account sits under, and nothing in them says the site is about to stop trading. The next fixed date is Playtech’s full-year results in March, which is where the outcome of a review would normally be reported.
Two practical points in the meantime. Expect the promotional side to stay thin. Marketing is the budget that pays for advertising and for bringing new players in, and the company has said in writing that it cut it. And it is a sensible moment to check how your money is held. Every Gambling Commission licensee has to tell customers, in its terms, what level of protection applies to their funds if the business fails. That statement is in Sun Bingo’s terms as it is in everyone else’s. Reading it costs nothing, and it is the one thing on the account that matters more than the offers.
Beyond that, the usual rule applies with a little more force than usual. A balance you are not playing with is better in your bank than in any bingo account.
