Rush Street Interactive - Earnings Call - Q3 2025

Executive Summary

• Record revenue of $277.9M (+20% YoY) and adjusted EBITDA of $36.0M (+54% YoY); tenth consecutive quarter of sequential revenue growth; North American online casino MAUs accelerated +46% YoY.
• Full-year 2025 guidance raised: revenue to $1.100–$1.120B (midpoint +20% YoY) and adjusted EBITDA to $147–$153M (midpoint +62% YoY); a clear positive catalyst for sentiment and estimate revisions in the absence of Street data.
• Mix shift remains favorable to higher-margin online casino; Colombia headwinds (temporary VAT and elevated bonusing) weighed on LATAM net revenue and sports betting, but management highlighted strong underlying GGR and player growth.
• Balance sheet remains strong with $273M cash and no debt, enabling flexibility for marketing investment and expansion (e.g., planned Alberta launch).

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Online casino momentum: North America MAUs +34% YoY to ~225k, with online casino markets +46% MAU growth; management emphasized “continued acceleration… every single month since March”.
• Broad-based market growth: Delaware net revenue +74%; Michigan +48%; New Jersey +37%; Ontario +24%; Pennsylvania +15%, supporting the product differentiation thesis.
• Efficient growth and profitability: Adjusted EBITDA margin implied strong operating leverage; marketing expense down 1% YoY despite record first-time depositors (>10% above prior record).

Quote: “Our third quarter results demonstrate continued momentum… led by our continued outperformance in the online casino space.” — Richard Schwartz, CEO.

What Went Wrong

• Colombia VAT-driven bonusing reduced LATAM net revenue (net revenue down 27% in Colombia despite >50% GGR growth); sports betting revenue contracted 16% in Q3.
• Player-friendly sports outcomes (September) pressured gross margin and LATAM results; New Jersey tax increases also mild headwind.
• Q4 incremental margin at guidance midpoint expected ~20% due to higher marketing and continued Colombia VAT through year-end, implying sequential margin compression vs recent quarters.

Transcript

Speaker 8

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Rush Street Interactive Third Quarter 2025 earnings conference call. All participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. Please note that this conference call is being recorded today, October 29, 2025. I will now turn the call over to Kyle Sauers, President and Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Operator, and good afternoon. By now, everyone should have access to our third quarter 2025 earnings release. It can be found under the heading Financials Quarterly Results in the Investors section of the Rush Street Interactive website at rushstreetinteractive.com. Some of our comments will be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are not statements of historical fact and are usually identified by the use of words such as will, expect, should, or other similar phrases and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. We assume no responsibility for updating any forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on them. We refer you to our SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact our future operating results and financial condition.

During the call, we will discuss our non-GAAP measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating the company's operating performance. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for our financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. We will be discussing adjusted EBITDA, which we define as net income or loss before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation, adjustments for certain one-time or non-recurring items, and other adjustments that are either non-cash or not related to our underlying business performance. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is available in our third quarter 2025 earnings release and our investor deck, which is available in the Investors section of the Rush Street Interactive website at rushstreetinteractive.com.

For purposes of today's call, unless noted otherwise, when discussing profitability, EBITDA, or other income statement measures other than revenue, we're referring to those items on a non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA basis. With me on the call today, we have Richard Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer. We will first provide some opening remarks and then open the call to questions. With that, I'll turn the call over to Richard.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Kyle. Good afternoon and thank you for joining us today. I'm pleased to report on another outstanding quarter that underscores the resilience of our business model and player-first approach. Our third quarter results demonstrate continued momentum and acceleration of growth across key markets, led by our continued outperformance in the online casino space. Before diving into our key quarterly performance, I want to highlight some important organizational enhancements to strengthen our leadership structure. We promoted Kyle Sauers to President and CFO, expanding his existing role to now oversee marketing, operations, and commercial strategy, in addition to finance. This change allows me to focus more deeply on innovation, online casino legalization, and strategic growth opportunities, while Kyle drives cross-functional operational excellence across our existing markets. We've also elevated Rob Picard to Chief Strategy Officer, reflecting his contributions to our success.

These changes position us well for continued execution as we scale our business. Congratulations to both Kyle and Rob. Now, turning to our Q3 performance, revenue reached a record $277.9 million, up 20% year over year, marking our 10th consecutive quarter of sequential revenue growth over the prior quarter. Notably, this growth was driven by very strong player acquisition and player engagement across our higher-value markets. Adjusted EBITDA of $36 million increased 54% year over year, demonstrating the operating leverage inherent in our business model as we scale. In total, for North America, our MAUs increased 34% year over year, rising to 225,000. This represents our fastest quarterly user growth rate over four years and clearly off a much larger base of players.

What makes these results particularly compelling is the continued acceleration of our growth in North American online casino markets, where we see the highest player value and retention. In our North American online casino markets, we delivered exceptional performance with 46% year-over-year MAU growth. This is also the second highest quarterly growth rate in over four years, again achieved off a much larger starting player base. Even more encouraging, we've seen accelerating year-over-year growth in our North American online casino player base every single month since March, indicating a strong underlying momentum that extends well beyond any seasonal factors. While this rapidly growing player base is driven by our high-quality player experience and strong retention, we also had a record quarter as it relates to first-time depositors across the business, beating our prior high-water mark by more than 10%, while doing so at very attractive customer acquisition rates.

Turning to our performance in individual online casino markets, the breadth and scope of our success is encouraging. Delaware continued its noteworthy trajectory with 74% net revenue growth, demonstrating the sustained opportunity in this market, even as it continues to mature. Michigan delivered 48% growth, its second fastest pace since Q1 2022. Even our most mature market, New Jersey, achieved 37% growth, the second fastest rate since Q1 2021, proving that established markets can re-accelerate with the right strategy and execution. Ontario grew 24%, its fastest pace since Q4 2023, while Pennsylvania delivered 15% growth, its fastest growth since Q3 2021. This broad-based acceleration of growth across markets of varying maturity levels validates our strategic approach of focusing on product differentiation and a high-quality customer experience. Our proprietary technology platform enables us to deliver unique gaming experiences that drive both customer acquisition and retention efficiently.

In Latin America, we continued to build momentum with MAUs growing 30% year over year, climbing to a new record of 415,000 users. While Copa America in 2024 created a challenging year-over-year comparison in July, August and September both delivered over 50% growth, demonstrating the underlying strength of our LATAM operations extends well beyond major sporting events. Mexico revenue grew over 100% again this quarter, reflective of continued momentum and market share gains in that market. In Colombia, while GGR again grew over 50%, net revenue was down 27% during the quarter due to player bonusing related to the temporary VAT tax. In Colombia, we continue to navigate the VAT tax environment. Our strategy of absorbing the tax impact, while maintaining player experience, has allowed us to grow our market position and continue to grow our player base at a fast pace.

Our strong operational performance in Colombia positions us well for meaningful upside when normal tax conditions resume. As for the President's proposed 2026 tax reform, we continue to believe that Congress will not approve the proposed online gaming tax. Now, I want to address several industry topics that I know are top of mind for investors. First, on prediction markets, we are monitoring the space closely. As a casino-first company, we see less direct competitive risk than sportsbook-heavy operators. In fact, if prediction markets create tax revenue erosion concerns for states, this could accelerate online casino legalization as states seek more protected revenue streams, a development that would actually benefit Rush Street Interactive, given our market-leading experience in online casino. The second industry topic is sweepstakes operators.

The proliferation of unregulated sweepstakes products with games that look, feel, and play identical to regulated online casino games presents both a challenge and an opportunity. The reality is that this online casino gaming is already occurring across the United States through these unregulated and illicit channels. These operators generally pay no taxes, are not subject to consumer protection or responsible gaming standards, and often raise concerns about targeting minors. States are faced with a clear choice: continue to allow this untaxed, unregulated activity, or they can legalize online casino gaming and regulate it properly, ensuring strong and consistent consumer protections for their residents and generating meaningful tax revenue for their states. We believe the right choice is obvious, and the sweepstakes proliferation only strengthens the case for regulated online casino expansion. Looking ahead, our pipeline of opportunities remains robust.

We're excited about our planned expansion into Alberta and anticipate launching in that market on day one when it goes live. This represents a significant online casino opportunity that leverages our proven success in similar markets such as Ontario, where we continue to hit new quarterly revenue records. We are also actively monitoring legislative developments across multiple U.S. states, where budget pressures and the need for new revenue sources are creating momentum for online casino legalization. As we look forward to the remainder of 2025 and beyond, I'm confident in our strategic positioning. Our focus on markets that include online casino, our proprietary and innovative technology platform, our marketing efficiency, and our operational excellence create a sustainable competitive advantage that is difficult to replicate. The fundamentals of our business have never been stronger. We're growing fast, efficiently, and profitably.

Most importantly, we're doing so in a way that positions us for continued success in online gaming markets across the Americas. With that, I'll turn the call over to Kyle for a more detailed financial commentary.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Richard. I'll now provide additional details on our third quarter financial performance and outlook. Third quarter revenue of $277.9 million increased 20% year over year, driven by exceptional growth across our North American online casino markets and partially offset by lower revenue in Colombia and some player-friendly sports outcomes in September. Once again, we see the results as demonstrating the consistency and durability of our business model. Online casino revenues grew 34% during the quarter, while online sports betting contracted 16% due to the elevated bonusing in Colombia. Regionally, revenue in North America grew 26%, while revenue in Latin America fell by 11%, similarly affected by the elevated bonusing in Colombia.

Our gross margin was 34.0% during the quarter, reflecting continued improvement in mix shift to higher gross margin markets, but offset by player-friendly sports outcomes, which impacted Colombia results in bonusing and also, to a lesser extent, the increase in New Jersey gaming taxes. On the expense side, our disciplined approach continues to drive operating leverage. Marketing expense of $38.1 million was down 1% year over year, while increasing sequentially by 5%. Richard mentioned this already, but it's worth reiterating, we had our highest North American monthly active user growth in four years, and we set another new record for first-time depositors for the entire company during the quarter, achieving this while further decreasing our cost to acquire players in North America by over 10% during the quarter, leading to continued leverage over our marketing investments, and this represents less than 14% of revenue.

G&A expenses were $20.4 million, up 8% year over year, reflecting continued investment in our technology platform and operational capabilities to support our growth. As a percentage of revenue, G&A remained well controlled at 7.3%, and we continue to expect modest leverage over this line item as we scale. Adjusted EBITDA of $36 million increased 54% year over year, representing a margin of 13%. This demonstrates the significant operating leverage in our business model as we continue to scale. The strong flow-through from revenue growth to profitability underscores the quality of our revenue streams and the efficiency of operations. Looking at our key operating metrics, the strength of our performance becomes even more apparent. North American MAUs of 225,000 users was 34% year over year growth, our strongest quarterly performance in over four years. More importantly, this growth is concentrated in our higher-value online casino markets.

North American ART MAU of $365 was down 5% year over year, which is expected given the impressive growth in the user base. As we've seen consistently, newer player cohorts start with lower spend levels and more bonusing before increasing engagement and player value over time. This is exactly the dynamic we want to see: rapid customer base expansion that will drive long-term value creation. In Latin America, MAUs reached 415,000, up 30% year over year, despite the challenging Copa America comparison in July. The acceleration we saw in August and September, with both months delivering over 50% growth and demonstrating the underlying strength of our LATAM operations. Our balance sheet remains exceptionally strong. We ended the quarter with substantial unrestricted cash of $273 million and no debt, providing significant flexibility for both organic growth investments and potential strategic opportunities.

Our strong cash generation continues with meaningfully positive operating cash flow throughout the quarter. I'll also note that we have begun including our balance sheet and cash flow statement in our quarterly press release starting this quarter. Regarding our outlook, we remain confident in the momentum we've built and the opportunities ahead. The acceleration we've seen in North America online casino markets every month since March gives us confidence that this growth is sustainable and not merely seasonal. We continue to expect to maintain marketing leverage for the full year, with marketing expenses growing at a lower rate than revenue. Our G&A investments are focused on areas that directly support our growth, particularly technology and product development capabilities that enhance our competitive differentiation. Looking at the fourth quarter and beyond, we believe we're well positioned to continue delivering strong performance.

The seasonal strength we typically see in Q4, combined with our accelerating market trends, positions us for a strong finish to 2025. We remain excited about our expansion opportunities, particularly in Alberta, where we expect to launch when that market opens. Our success in similar markets gives us confidence in our ability to capture meaningful market share quickly. In summary, Q3 represents another quarter of exceptional execution across all aspects of our business. We're growing faster, more profitably, and more efficiently than ever before, while building a foundation for sustained long-term success. Based on this continued strong performance, we're raising our full-year revenue and EBITDA guidance. We expect 2025 revenue to be between $1.1 billion and $1.12 billion, up $35 million at the midpoint of $1.11 billion, and representing a 20% year-over-year increase.

For the full year, we anticipate adjusted EBITDA to be between $147 million and $153 million, up $10 million at the midpoint of $150 million, which is up 62% year over year. One last reminder, our guidance includes only those markets that are live as of today. With that, Operator, we can open the line for questions.

Speaker 8

At this time, if you would like to ask a question, it is star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If for any reason you would like to remove that question, it is star followed by two. Again, to ask a question, it is star one. As a reminder, if you're using a speakerphone, please remember to pick up your headset before asking a question. I'll pause briefly here as questions are registered. Our first question comes from Dan Politzer with JP Morgan. Dan, your line is now open.

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking our questions. This is actually Sam on for Dan. First, I think if we think about your updated guidance, it implies fourth quarter incremental margins at the midpoint of around 20%, which is below recent levels. I think you talked about some increased marketing in the fourth quarter, but is there any other color you could provide around puts and takes, maybe like a sports betting, you know, unfavorable holds from sport outcomes?

Speaker 2

Yeah, thanks for the question, Sam. I think I'd point to, yes, the increased marketing spend. As we've pointed out in our prepared remarks, we've been having really good success bringing on a lot of new players and at attractive rates. That's part of it. I think the other piece that I would put in there is just the ongoing VAT tax that goes through the end of the year in Colombia. That's impacting gross margins and revenue growth down there a little bit.

Thanks. There's some recent news coming out of Mexico. They're considering a potential increase in gaming tax rates. Was this something you were anticipating going into the year, and how would you kind of think about increased tax rates impacting kind of how you operate in that market? Thank you.

Yeah, we've been tracking that. I wouldn't say it was something that we anticipated heading into 2025, but it does appear that in Mexico, the gaming tax is likely to increase from a current rate of 30% up to 50%. There have been and should continue to be ways to reduce the effective rate below these amounts. We'll keep you updated next year, assuming these changes get enacted, and what that means for us and if there's any difference in the way we approach that market. Operator, I think we can go to the next question.

Speaker 8

Our next question comes from.

Question?

Thank you. Our next question comes from Bernie McTernan with Needham & Company. Bernie, your line is now open.

Speaker 5

Great, thanks for taking the question. Maybe just to start and keeping on the LATAM theme, what should we be looking for in terms of next steps for what's going on in Colombia and the VAT tax? Maybe, Richard, just gauge your probability of it going through or not, if it's still a high degree of confidence or not.

Speaker 4

Sure. Yeah. So Colombia, it is a situation where the President's tax reform does require congressional support. I think there's been some articles published over the last few weeks that sometimes don't convey that clear picture that it does require congressional support, and we continue to feel there is not sufficient support by Congress to pass that. If that doesn't pass, then the normal tax conditions should resume. That's sort of the state of things today, but November is going to be a very busy time in the political arena down there. The President remains unpopular, and his party does. It's still some work that's happening down there, but I certainly think that the current view is that the current tax reform as proposed will not be adopted.

Speaker 5

Understood. Richard, there was obviously the press release that happened not too long ago, but then you mentioned on this call how there's Kyle being promoted to President and allowing you to focus on more strategic, maybe bigger picture things. I just wanted to see if there's any commentary on maybe why now, or if there's anything you could bring us under the hood in terms of what you'll be focused on specifically.

Speaker 4

Sure. First of all, I think Kyle deserves it. The opportunity has done a tremendous job for the company since he joined us, and his support throughout the board and colleagues, other executives, and everyone in our community that follows our company, I think, has recognized how deserving it was. Ultimately, I also, for myself, realized that the impact to our company of having additional states legalizing online casino is very profound and very significant. I believe, as I've shared on prior calls, that there are opportunities to improve how our industry lobbies and the narrative, the messaging, and hopefully the impact of the opportunity will be stronger if I'm able to spend more time working with other colleagues from our peers to try to align folks in a way that hasn't really been aligned as much as we like in the past.

I think the number one, online casino legalization requires a very strong and very dedicated effort to really try to move the needle in terms of accelerating the pace, and I think we'll be able to achieve some results with some additional time to focus on that. In addition, as we know, we hired our new CTO earlier this year. He's off to a tremendous start. What I'm excited about is working with him and the team to continue to deliver experiences that are fun and that players want to play because they can't get them anywhere else. At the end of the day, we want to continue to improve the innovation of our business and the differentiation, which has been the source of a lot of our success.

Why you see our MAUs at such a high rate relative to others is because we have a constant flow of new ideas implemented in smart ways that consumers really enjoy and appreciate. We have a team that loves building these fun experiences, but we need to do more of that. As some of you know, I have a long history in that part of the business on the product side, and I think it'd be a great opportunity to kind of ensure that we have our next pipeline enhanced and coming through at a faster pace. I'm really excited to focus on innovation as well.

As you could also imagine, there's all these strategic opportunities in the industry, and we want to make sure that we have a proper focus on those and make sure that when we evaluate how to direct capital to get the highest returns, that we're comparing all the opportunities, and there's a lot of them. We have to make sure we have the right focus on those to ensure that when we do find the right one, we are able to act and have proper support to make sure it's successful. Those are the things that I'm hoping to focus on.

Speaker 5

Great, thanks for taking the question. Certainly, we feel the similar sentiment towards Kyle. Thanks again.

Speaker 2

Appreciate it. Thank you.

Speaker 8

Our next question comes from Jordan Bender with Citizens. Jordan, your line is not.

Speaker 6

Hey, you know, the state reported data doesn't always tell the whole story, but it does look like you got a little bit more promotional on the sports betting side of the business later in the quarter, which we can kind of see in your handle accelerating. Curious as to what you're seeing in the market that's making you lean in, and are you seeing anything elevated from your end or the market's end as we head into the fourth quarter here?

Speaker 2

Yeah. Thanks, Jordan. I don't think I would highlight anything dramatic that's happening within the industry. Obviously, everybody has their own strategy heading into football season that they're trying to execute. I mean, we're, I think, probably like all operators, we're continuing to refine our bonusing in all of our different markets, and each market might look a little bit different, but making sure the bonuses are getting to the right players. Really no big change in strategy there for us.

Speaker 6

Okay. If I can follow up in Colombia, if I caught it right, I think you said NGR down 27% in the quarter, which, if I heard that right, would kind of represent a pretty meaningful deceleration from what you saw in the first two quarters of the year. I guess, like, is there anything structurally different from what you're doing in that market? Obviously, it ends here in a couple of months, but just curious on why the deceleration there.

Speaker 2

Yeah. Just to be clear, I don't think I would refer to it as a deceleration because the player count growth was still super strong. GGR growth was still super strong. This was about the bonusing that we're doing to offset the VAT tax on the players. It was a bit more painful for us in Q3 in terms of the impact on net revenue. Part of that comes from better sports outcomes, and then, because of that, you have players who have a little bit fuller balances in their accounts. There's a little more churn with deposits and withdrawals, which creates more bonusing. That's really how I would describe Q3 as it relates to Colombia, but not a deceleration. It was more about the bonusing.

Speaker 4

I would just add that, you know, the handle, the gross gaming revenues, the player volumes are generally in line with the growth we were experiencing prior to the VAT tax implementation. We continue to see really healthy growth in that market.

Speaker 6

Great, thank you very much.

Speaker 8

Our next question comes from Ryan Sigdahl with Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Ryan, your line is now open.

Speaker 3

Hey. Good afternoon, guys. Really nice results. I want to start kind of in the U.S., and then we'll move to Latin America like everybody else. You know, some nice payment processing partnerships, Sightline Payments too for an integrated debit solution. You have BuraPay for crypto. You guys seem like kind of a leader, first mover on a lot of that stuff. Curious how those partnerships came about, any metrics you're willing to give from a % of players that are using these or have adopted, and then kind of how you think about the cost savings versus, you know, potentially even customer retention features of these.

Speaker 4

Right. Sure. I'll take that one, Ryan. Thanks for the comments on the quarter. It really starts off with sort of a reputation that we developed over the years, I think, as a thought leader and an innovator in our industry. When you have to pioneer new payment methods in particular, it's extraordinarily complicated and requires not only engineering teams, but compliance, operations, and every sort of partner and all stakeholders have to align together and figure out really tough challenges and how to execute on them. I think when you've done it before, as we have, we're a natural company that people want to partner with because we have a track record and a history of delivering new experiences to customers in a great way. In the case of Sightline Payments, you know, their Co-Founder, CEO, and myself have a relationship going back many years.

Since they launched their business, our teams get along extremely well. We recognize that together we could deliver an experience that is solving a need that the industry has, especially for us. We had a very collaborative and terrific relationship, and we launched that product, and we're really excited for it, but it's still very early and don't have any metrics to share on this call at this time. For BuraPay, another long-time executive in the industry approached us, again, for similar reasons, knowing that we have a great reputation, I think, and are able to pioneer new approaches. Similar to the Sightline Payments experience, we were able to agree on a framework to work together and collaborate to deliver great experiences. Payments are key to our industry. When you can innovate and find ways to solve players' friction, deliver more efficient experiences for them, it makes a difference.

We tend to do that in Latin America very well, and we're doing that equally as well, I think, in the U.S. market.

Speaker 2

Yeah. The only thing I would add, Ryan, I think you hit on it, but there are two reasons for these types of innovations around payments. The first is, obviously, to have a great player experience and a journey, where it makes it very easy for players to feel comfortable, trust the platform, get their money on and off the platform when they want, and then the second piece is to make sure that it's improving our financials and reducing costs over time. When we can accomplish both of those things at the same time, that's a big win for us.

Speaker 3

Yep. Switching down to Colombia, we don't need to debate our likelihood of tax reform. We'll kind of wait and see how that all plays out. To me, it's a positive regardless. Curious your thoughts on that. There's a great outcome, obviously, that it doesn't continue into next year and you get an immediate uplift. The other option is it does in some form. Do you expect operators to change strategies or behavior? To me, it felt like everybody was operating under a temporary, you know, this year, absorbing the VAT tax because it was going to go away. If it ultimately becomes permanent, people likely, you know, partially or stop doing that, and actually, results can improve next year regardless.

Speaker 2

Yeah. I think it's a good point. I think there's, you know, at either end of the spectrum for outcomes, it should be a better scenario for us next year. If you just look at some of the numbers, for the year, GGR is up a little less than 60%, and net revenue is about flat. That includes the first couple of months of the year because the bonusing and the VAT didn't go into place until late February. If you just looked at Q2 and Q3, GGR is up almost 65%, but net revenue is down almost 15%. It gives you just kind of a decent perspective on the headwind from the extra bonusing that we're doing along with the other large operators.

You jump to 2026, the VAT going away is obviously going to have a very solid impact on our revenue growth, given that we've seen the GGR growing over 60%. At the other end of the possible outcomes, as you point out, we think it's likely that all the operators would decrease the bonusing, take that bonusing away, which wouldn't be great for GGR, but it should be much better for us in net revenue and profitability. The other piece of it is by the end of February, we're lapping the bonusing that we started doing because of the VAT tax. Both of those could be beneficial for us.

Speaker 3

Helpful. Thanks, guys. Good luck.

Speaker 8

Our next question comes from Joe Stauff with the company Susquehanna. Joe, your line is now open.

Speaker 0

Good effort, Operator. Well done. It's not easy. Hi, Richard. Hi, Kyle.

Speaker 4

Hi, Joe.

Speaker 0

I wanted to ask, Richard, on your comments about the sweepstakes market, what states that you operate in currently do you consider to have a pretty substantial headwind in terms of sweepstakes operators operating against you?

Speaker 4

There are sweepstakes across poker and across sports and across casinos. A couple of large states have been fairly effective at having the regulators issue cease-and-desist letters and removing some of the competition. I'll mention Michigan as one example, and Delaware is another example. In other states where you operate online sports betting and some efforts to legalize online casino in Virginia, a market that does still have sweepstakes, for example, and Illinois still has it as well. It is really a mix across the country of states that have been able to exit the online sweepstakes and others that have not. It is not very clear cut. In some cases, some of the larger sweepstakes operators leave, but there are others that still stay. It is not a very clear image and a lot of confusion about what the status is in some of those individual states.

Speaker 0

Gotcha. For iCasino in particular, maybe of your more material states, you know, Michigan, Delaware are maybe the states where it's a little bit cleaner, whereas the other ones not so much.

Speaker 4

Yeah. I'm not actually familiar with the latest in a couple of those other states other than ones I referenced.

Speaker 0

Got it. In terms of just the reinvestment you did in the third quarter and the reacceleration, for instance, especially like in a state like New Jersey, if we think about the first-time depositors, which you said was a record, was it heavier in certain states than not, or was it more kind of across the board?

Speaker 2

Yeah. Thanks, Joe. It is concentrated in markets that have online casino available. I would include Ontario in that in addition to the states that we're in. We haven't been shy about the fact that we feel like we have a very differentiated product and an advantage there. That's where our marketing investments should go, and it's clearly paying off. I think our 34% growth in our monthly active users in North America is impressive. When you get to just the online casino markets and it was 46% year over year, that tells you that's where we're investing and that's where we're having a lot of success.

Speaker 0

Yeah, makes all the sense in the world. Thank you.

Speaker 8

Our next question comes from David Katz with Jefferies. David, your line is now open.

Speaker 4

Thank you and good evening, everybody. First question, Richard, I think you talked about prediction markets a little bit, but I'm not sure if you said whether you would be potentially looking into offering it if it became a legalized context to do so.

Speaker 2

I don't think I addressed that, and I predicted you might ask this question. The truth is, when it comes to prediction markets, the legality of it is being debated across the federal government and state jurisdictions right now. A handful of states, as you know, are actually pushing back against prediction markets as unauthorized offerings. At Rush Street Interactive, our focus is on our core business, delivering sustainable growth while navigating the regulatory landscape responsibly, which means that we aren't going to be a pioneer. We're very innovative in a lot of ways. We're not going to be a pioneer in this category, but certainly, we have to have an even playing field ultimately, depending on whatever happens.

We're certainly monitoring it closely, aware of everything that's been happening, and don't expect to be pushing any limits because we certainly respect the state gaming licenses and recognize that licenses are a privilege at a state level and not a right. We have to be very cautious and make sure we're compliant with those stakeholders there that feel strongly on this topic.

Speaker 4

Understood. If I may, as my follow-up, Kyle, if I can still address you as Kyle, I noticed that there wasn't any share repurchase in the quarter. Just curious if there are sort of other uses there or, you know, what the philosophy was behind that.

Speaker 2

Yeah. Thanks, David. I'm still going to call you David. We didn't do any buybacks during the quarter. I continue to think about future buybacks as being, you know, opportunistic rather than programmatic. We're going to just remain flexible on how we use the buyback authorization and make sure that we've got a lot of dry powder for new markets that come along or other opportunities as well.

Speaker 4

Okay, thank you.

Speaker 8

Our next question comes from Jed Kelly with Oppenheimer. Jed, your line is now open.

Speaker 6

Hey, great, thanks for taking my question. Just on the iGaming growth in some of your more mature states, can you kind of dig in more to what's driving that acceleration? Is it more product-exclusive content, or is it something you're doing on the bonusing, or are you just getting, you know, share games from other competitors?

Speaker 2

Jed, I'll start and maybe Richard will jump in here. I think it's everything. Obviously, when you look at the monthly active user growth, that's not just about getting new people to the platform. That's having a great product and a differentiated experience and giving people a reason to come back every day. When it comes to bringing people to the platform, which obviously we're doing quite well given that this quarter was a record for first-time depositors at the company, I think 10% higher than our previous record, which happened to be last quarter, and we're not spending any more money doing that. I think that tells you a lot about the quality of our marketing team and our marketing programs. We've done a lot to continue to add resources to that team, and they keep getting better and better.

The good news is that there's a lot of things we can still do better than we are today. I think the fact that we're adding so many new users and then keeping them around says a lot about the momentum we have in the business. I think you probably heard it in the prepared remarks, but our year-over-year growth in monthly active users accelerated every quarter or every month sequentially since March through September. I think that's pretty impressive, and we're very excited about that.

Speaker 6

What do you think is more of a catalyst for further iGaming legislation? Is it prediction markets or sweepstakes? Thanks.

Speaker 4

Sure. I think both have a meaningful role to play because, in one case, prediction markets is reducing the sportsbook revenues potentially that states will be obtaining from the sports betting statewide frameworks that exist. If that happens, it's certainly online gaming is a safer, more protected category of casino revenues that would be sustained. It certainly helps that online casino generates about 4X the tax revenues of sports betting. As states have more financial pressures, and I think as the big federal bill starts to get implemented in the next couple of years, you're going to have increased financial pressures on states. As we've seen some stakeholders in the discussion recognize, online casino represents one of the very most available, accessible, proven, reliable opportunities for states to have a meaningful additional source of tax revenue. It's the financial element.

On sweepstakes, certainly, the fact that the size of that industry is not to be underappreciated. It's a multibillion-dollar industry, and there's a whole large volume of customers that could be online casino regulated customers that are right now playing these sweepstakes sites. I think it's interesting that when you do have folks opposing online casino being regulated, you don't have the same effort usually applied towards stopping the sweepstakes market that already exists today. Certainly, the existence of it and the fact that it's not taxed, and as I said in my prepared remarks, not taxed, doesn't protect consumers, really has no value to a state in any way.

It just has a negative consequence versus the online gaming regulatory process, and legalizing it adds a lot of value to states by protecting consumers and generating taxes and creating opportunities to fund resources to local causes and public services that need that sort of support. I do think that these things are going to help, plus the financial needs of states. As I said earlier, having better alignment in our industry is really important. As I have more availability, I hope to be able to focus on these things. I'm hoping to be able to deliver some accelerated efforts in some of the key jurisdictions that are important for us in the future.

Speaker 6

Thank you.

Speaker 8

Our next question comes from Chad Beynon with Macquarie. Chad, your line is now open.

Speaker 1

Afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. I feel like we covered everything on iGaming. For sports betting, I wanted to ask one just in terms of how the customers have reacted, just within play. We have heard that there were obviously customer-friendly outcomes for American football and for soccer, I think, in September and for October. That probably hurt hold. In terms of the in-play percentage helping hold, does that continue to look or does that continue to grow from a year-over-year perspective? If we see normal outcomes, that could lead to a year-over-year increase in hold. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Yeah. Thanks, Chad. We have continued to see improvement in the percentage of betting that goes both to parlays, SGPs, and to in-game. That's been an initiative for us for quite some time. Those trends have been positive for us. Interesting on the hold, absolutely, there were some player-friendly outcomes, as you pointed out, and it's well-publicized, particularly in September. That did create some headwind. I will point out that our sports hold in the U.S. actually hit its highest point in our history in Q3, even with those tougher outcomes. I think that's a pretty good reflection of how our team has been able to continue to improve the product and the offering and drive players to, you know, a better mix of bets.

Speaker 1

Great. Thanks, Kyle. On Colombia again, I think previously you've talked about the VAT tax representing roughly, you know, a low double-digit hit to EBITDA. You're doing things to offset it, and you laid that out for the third quarter. As we think about the guidance increase and maybe the outperformance in Q3, is it fair to say that maybe the beat, I guess, some of it's probably coming from the MAU growth, but was there any type of a beat against that originally expected VAT impact?

Speaker 2

I'm not positive I understand the question exactly, but I'm going to answer, and you can tell me if I got you here. I think when you look at Q3 and the guidance raise, it's probably more about continued acceleration in MAUs, so more players, outperformance in North American online casino, actually really good operational performance in Latin America, but more pressure from the bonusing in Q3 than maybe we would have anticipated. That's partly because of those good player or the player-friendly sports outcomes, I should say. Did that get to the gist of your question?

Speaker 4

Yep.

Speaker 2

Okay.

Speaker 4

Answered like a President. Thank you, Kyle.

Speaker 2

Thanks. Congrats.

Speaker 4

Appreciate it.

Speaker 8

Our last question comes from Mike Hickey with Benchmark Company. Mike, your line is not open.

Speaker 9

Thank you. Hey, Richard. Hey, Kyle. Congrats on the quarter, and Kyle, congrats on the promotion. I dropped myself early in the call. This question seems obvious, but on the prediction market, in states where you have market share, call it Delaware, are you seeing any pressure from Kalshi, soon-to-be Polymarket in that state or states? Thanks, guys. Another follow-up.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Mike. Yeah, I'll answer that. No, the truth is we have not seen an impact to date from that that we've noticed in those states where we operate the sports betting. You know, we're still looking for that and certainly monitoring it, but we haven't seen much of an impact.

Speaker 9

Richard, do you see anything on the prediction markets in terms of innovation that you would potentially integrate into your online gaming products, OSB products?

Speaker 4

That's a good question. We have people look at it closely. I think we're still just trying to appreciate that, you know, while it's often described as a peer-to-peer experience, what we're seeing is that there are some large companies that are taking positions on one side of the equation and essentially almost replicating what a sportsbook is, from the, I guess, the house. I think when you start to, I think the VFS industry had a lot of really smart pioneering things they did that sportsbooks could and should embrace as well in terms of how you communicate bet propositions to players. I think you're going to see which types of markets gain momentum in the prediction, and some of the things you might not expect will be the popular markets. It's then up for companies like us to identify how we strengthen our own books.

I think those things we'll be paying attention to, but I would say it's almost still premature to really see a lot because so far what's been happening is that the prediction markets are less regulated than we are. Perhaps you will start, and they're self-certifying in many cases, so you start to see things happening in the future that maybe are worth us paying attention to. What you've seen so far is really that industry trying to replicate sports betting and starting to say, "We have single-game parlays, so how can they do single-game parlays?" I think right now the direction is more of them trying to replicate what exists in our business. At some point, I could see if that market was to exist, although obviously, it's a long way to know that's going to happen.

You certainly would start to see cross-pollination of ideas in the other direction too.

Speaker 9

Nice. Last question from us. Do you think the Trump fight with the Colombian president, is that creating more or less support in Colombia for the president in his potential tax change? Broadly speaking, kind of a mess in Colombia. Does that take down a little bit your appetite to expand further? Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, all really interesting regions I think you're looking at maybe unlocking. Does the mess in Colombia pull back your desire to put capital to work in other countries in Latin America? Thanks, guys.

Speaker 4

Maybe I'll take your second question first, and the answer is no, it doesn't really dampen our interests. It's a lot of effort to get experience right for Latin America. We believe those markets are at the infancy of growth. As we see in our growth ourselves, there's lots of opportunity there, and it's a very large population across Latin America that are in the process of or will be legalizing online gaming in the future. We certainly remain very excited for it. Frankly, some of the things that are happening in these regions are also happening here in the United States across the different footprints here. I don't think there's anything that's possible these days, it feels like, with the anywhere in the world.

I think certainly we are excited for the LATAM market and think we will be able to, you know, control the things that we can and execute where we can and influence when we're able to in terms of how we sort of want frameworks to exist in a way that's viable. I think we're excited for the future in LATAM. In terms of the Colombia question, we certainly haven't heard or seen any evidence of anything impacting us. Certainly, we've been a great, great citizen down there, continue to be very respected in that industry and feel really confident about the taxes we generate and the quality of the business that we run down there. I think the answer would be no to your question.

Speaker 8

At this time, there are no more questions registered in queue. I'd like to pass the conference back over to our hosting team for closing remarks.

Speaker 4

Thank you for joining us today. We're excited about the road ahead and look forward to sharing our continued progress when we report our fourth quarter and annual results next year.

Speaker 8

That will conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation and enjoy the rest of your day.