ZEAL grows despite weak jackpot situation and further expands its product portfolio

• Revenue increases by 6% to €54.3 million
• Active customer base grows by 5% to 1,575 thousand
• Gross margin improves again – EBITDA impacted by growth investments
• Charity lottery offering selectively expanded with the Traumautoverlosung (Dream Car Raffle)

ZEAL Network SE, Germany’s leading online provider of lottery products, continued its growth path in the first quarter of 2026, unimpressed by a weak jackpot environment. Revenue increased by 6% year-on-year to €54.3 million (2025: €51.1 million). EBITDA amounted to €15.5 million, around 13% below the prior-year figure of €17.7 million, as ZEAL continued to invest consistently in expanding its customer base and broadening its product offering in the first quarter. The gross margin in the lottery segment improved to 17.8% (2025: 17.1%).

“The first quarter of 2026 shows that we are consistently executing our strategy even in a weak jackpot environment: our core business is growing, and we have continued to invest in diversifying our business model,” says Andrea Behrendt, CFO of ZEAL. “Through targeted investments in new charity lotteries such as the Dream Car Raffle, we are laying the foundation for sustainable growth that is less dependent on jackpot cycles. The slightly lower EBITDA compared to the previous year is primarily a reflection of these measures.”

Customer base and activity further expanded

ZEAL’s strong revenue growth in the first quarter of 2026 was primarily driven by continued growth in the lottery business. Despite a weak jackpot environment, the average number of monthly active users (MAU) increased by 5% to 1,575 thousand (2025: 1,507 thousand). At the same time, the number of new registrations rose by 11% to 274 thousand (2025: 247 thousand). Lottery Billings increased by 1% to €268.0 million (2025: €264.7 million). The gross margin from lotteries improved by 0.8 percentage points to 17.8% (2025: 17.1%). As a result, lottery revenue grew by 5% to €48.7 million (2025: €46.3 million).

ZEAL further expands Charity Lotteries with the Dream Car Raffle

With the Traumautoverlosung (English name: Dream Car Raffle), ZEAL is expanding its portfolio with another inhouse charity lottery offering and consistently advancing the diversification of its business model. The launch on 14 April 2026, which was intensively prepared during the first quarter, marks another step in strategically complementing the traditional lottery brokerage business with scalable proprietary products, tapping into new target groups and further reducing dependence on jackpot cycles. Following freiheit+ and the Dream House Raffle, the Dream Car Raffle is already ZEAL’s third charity lottery in Germany. This strengthens the company’s charity lotteries as a second growth pillar and underlines its innovative strength in developing new, attractive raffle formats.

Revenue from Games business continues to grow

The Games business once again developed dynamically in the first quarter of 2026. By expanding its B2C portfolio to more than 740 titles, ZEAL significantly increased the number of monthly active users and further accelerated growth in the segment. As a result, revenue from Games rose by 14% to €3.9 million (2025: €3.4 million). Games is thus increasingly becoming an important component of ZEAL’s more broadly diversified business model.

Investments in future growth

In the first quarter of 2026, ZEAL deliberately invested in the further development of its business model. Higher expenses in marketing (+13%) and personnel (+21%) reflect the consistent execution of its multi-year strategy: alongside strengthening the core business, the company is aligning its organization, platform and growth initiatives toward the further scaling of charity lotteries and Games.