Key Takeaways
- Bet-at-Home Q1 2026 GGR fell 16.1% to €11.34m after Austria tax pass-through started June 2025.
- Sportsbook volume dropped €22m as competitors absorbed Austria’s 5% betting tax instead.
- Consolidated loss of €461K reverses €887K Q1 2025 profit in first post-Banijay quarter.
Austria Tax Pass-Through Costs Bet-at-Home Q1 Profit as Rivals Hold Pricing Steady
The German-headquartered operator’s June 2025 decision to pass Austria’s 3-percentage point betting tax increase, effective April 1, 2025, through to customers translated into the activity decline that Q1 numbers now confirm as a 24.4% contraction in stakes.
Several Austrian-licensed competitors took a different operational path on the same tax hike. iGamingBusiness reported in September 2025 that bet-at-home’s H1 2025 commentary already signaled the competitive risk, with the pass-through move risking erosion of competitiveness since several rivals had absorbed the increase themselves. Q1 2026 is the first full quarter in which the pass-through has applied across the entire Austrian market for bet-at-home customers, and the activity drop confirms the competitive disadvantage the H1 commentary anticipated.
Q1 2026 is also the first earnings period since Banijay Group N.V. (the French entertainment-and-gaming conglomerate listed on Euronext Amsterdam) sold its 53.9% controlling stake in bet-at-home on January 2, 2026, to focus on the integration of Banijay Gaming, the new sports betting and gaming unit formed by the merger of Betclic and Tipico Sportwetten in April this year.
CEO Stefan Sulzbacher reiterated full-year 2026 guidance of €46m to €54m GGR with EBITDA before special items of up to €4m, pointing to the FIFA World Cup in June and July as an expected positive driver. The Q1 marketing budget of €4.49m – down 7.4% year-on-year – is being held back for World Cup-focused customer activity. Bet-at-home’s outlook also faces Germany’s Interstate Treaty on Gambling restrictions and active Austrian discussions about raising the betting tax further to 10%, which would place the country among the highest-taxed European jurisdictions.
