Gibraltar-based gambling operator LiveScore Group recently released its financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. The data shows that the group's total annual revenue reached 206.3 million pounds, a year-on-year increase of 15%, with the UK market contributing 85% of the share, and revenue surged by 26% to 175.6 million pounds. This report card looks quite impressive at first glance, but the "sword of tax reform" hanging overhead casts a shadow over the prospects—from April 2026, the UK remote gambling tax will jump directly from 21% to 40%, and research firm Regulus Partners estimates that LiveScore will pay an additional 20 to 25 million pounds in taxes each year. In plain terms, no matter how much is earned in the fiscal year 2025, the tax bill next year will take a big chunk out of it.
The UK market outperformed the general market by twenty percentage points
LiveScore's performance in its home market of the UK is particularly worth dissecting. Regulus Partners points out that its LiveScore Bet and Virgin Bet brands grew about twenty percentage points faster than the average UK gambling market during the reporting period. In the fiercely competitive UK market, where traditional customer acquisition costs are climbing, this gap is significant.
The underlying logic behind the growth is not complex: LiveScore leverages its sports content platform as a traffic entry point, then converts users to gambling services. Regulus analysts commented that as traditional marketing and
affiliate
channels become more expensive, this strategy of "leveraging small, high-frequency sports content revenue to drive gambling participation, then cross-selling to games" becomes increasingly prominent. In layman's terms, while others are burning money to buy users, LiveScore is nurturing users with content.
Looking at the business segments, consumer-facing gambling services contributed 90% of total revenue, reaching 185.1 million pounds, a year-on-year increase of 18.3%. Revenue from business-to-business advertising services was 19.1 million pounds, accounting for 9%, and declined by 9.5% year-on-year. Software development revenue was not large in absolute terms, only 2.1 million pounds, but it grew by 50%. This clear revenue structure shows that LiveScore's growth engine is firmly embedded in the consumer-end gambling services.
Shutdown in the Netherlands drags down Europe, South Africa becomes a new chess piece
In contrast to the high growth in the UK, LiveScore's performance in continental Europe was less satisfactory. Revenue in the European region fell by 29% year-on-year to just 16.3 million pounds, mainly due to the shutdown of operations in the Netherlands in November 2024. With tighter advertising restrictions and higher gambling tax rates in the Netherlands, LiveScore chose to cut losses and exit, directly reducing revenue by about 6 million pounds during the reporting period. Excluding the Dutch business, the group's ongoing market revenue actually grew by 20.9% year-on-year to 194 million pounds, a figure that more accurately reflects the true quality of the core market.
Revenue in other regions fell by 14% to 14.4 million pounds, which Regulus analysts believe may be related to "weak performance in the Nigerian market." However, LiveScore has not stopped its expansion efforts, having obtained a gambling license in the Western Cape province of South Africa during the reporting period and officially entering the South African market in February 2026. From exiting the Netherlands to entering South Africa, this Gibraltar operator is redrawing its global map.
Losses narrowed significantly, but tax burden pressure remains the biggest variable
The signals released on the profit side are also worth noting. In the fiscal year 2025, LiveScore's operating loss narrowed from 50.7 million pounds in the previous fiscal year to 26.7 million pounds, a decrease of nearly 48%. Losses before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization shrank from 38.8 million pounds to 15.2 million pounds, improving by 61% year-on-year. Gross profit grew by 14% to 158 million pounds, while the cost of sales rose by 18% to 48.4 million pounds.
The key to narrowing losses was that the growth in gross profit outpaced the continued high costs of market marketing and brand investment. However, the annual distribution costs—mainly marketing expenses—still amounted to over 102 million pounds. Additionally, in November 2024, the group underwent a round of organizational streamlining, resulting in 3 million pounds in restructuring and layoff costs.
A more challenging test lies ahead. From April 2026, the UK remote gambling tax will surge from 21% to 40%, and from April 2027, a new 25% special tax on remote betting will be added. Regulus Partners estimates that LiveScore will face an additional 20 to 25 million pounds in tax costs each year—almost equivalent to the entire loss reduction achieved in the fiscal year 2025. The board of directors stated in the report that a diversified revenue structure and operational efficiency provide resilience, but the impact of rising tax burdens on UK operational costs is inevitable.
PASA official website continues to track global changes in gambling taxation, noting that this aggressive tax increase in the UK has become the single most important policy variable for European market operators. For LiveScore, which stakes over 85% of its revenue on the UK market, the impact of tax reform is no small matter. Looking at the balance sheet, the group's net assets shrank from 25.1 million pounds last year to 2.7 million pounds, reflecting the continuous erosion of the family foundation by accumulated losses. Fortunately, in May 2025, the group received an investment of 15.46 million pounds from Peichang Venture Capital Company, plus a 20 million pounds shareholder loan limit, temporarily replenishing its ammunition reserves.
The storyline of LiveScore's fiscal year 2025 is quite clear: it has found a sustainable growth model in its home market of the UK, and the content-to-gambling strategy has initially run smoothly; in the Netherlands, it decisively cut losses, showing strategic determination. But the biggest uncertainty—tax reform—has not yet been fully priced in. Whether it can open up new markets like South Africa and offset the policy risks of existing markets with incremental space will be the core question hanging over the company's head in the coming years.
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This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leaders," a gambling industry news channel:https://t.me/pasa_news
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