Better Collective revenue climbs 5% to €86 million as it expands partnership with X
Better Collective has reported a 5% year-on-year increase in revenue to €86 million (US$100 million)1 EUR = 1.1622 USD
2026-05-21Powered by CMG CurrenShift in Q1 2026, alongside news that it has expanded its existing partnership with social networking platform X.
The agreement builds on the initial US rollout of the AI-powered betting solution Playbook, which Better Collective said has seen high adoption and processes millions of wagers weekly with sportsbook partners.
The new deal integrates social media activity with sportsbook betting workflows. X users can privately direct message Playbook and receive pre-filled betslips, which can be placed through a regulated sportsbook.
Existing Playbook features will remain in place, including image recognition that converts betting slip screenshots into trackable links and odds comparison tools that allow users to view pricing across different regulated betting operators.
The partnership also provides Better Collective with access to X’s social listening and analytics tools.
Better Collective Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Jesper Søgaard said, “Following the initial success we are excited to expand our partnership with X. This marks an important step in scaling Playbook internationally.
“Sports conversations increasingly happen in real time and on social platforms, and this partnership enables us to bring a more intuitive and relevant betting experience directly into that environment. It also supports our broader strategy of developing technology-led products that strengthen engagement, retention, and value creation for our partners across regulated markets.”
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The Backstory
How we got here
Better Collective’s push to stitch betting into real-time sports conversation has been building for more than a year. The company set the tone by unveiling Playbook, an AI-powered tool designed to generate links that open directly in partner sportsbooks with pre-loaded wagers, ahead of the 2025 NFL season. The firm said the U.S. launch would prioritize retention as much as acquisition, following pilot tests around the Super Bowl in New Orleans. That early move, detailed when Better Collective launched its AI-powered sportsbook tool, foreshadowed the strategy now expanding on social platforms: remove steps, reduce friction and meet fans where they already engage.
The latest expansion with X builds on those pilots and the subsequent U.S. rollout, embedding a wagering workflow directly inside social conversation via private messages. Users who message Playbook on X can receive pre-filled betslips routed to regulated books, while image recognition converts screenshots into trackable links and odds comparison helps users scan prices across operators. Taken together, the tie-up shifts Playbook from a standalone utility into a social-native engine for engagement and conversion. It also underscores a bet that media distribution, first-party analytics and product-led retention will matter more than top-of-funnel traffic buys in a market where margins and marketing costs are tightening.
Momentum built on 2024 performance
Better Collective signaled staying power last year even as the industry reset after the first wave of U.S. legalization. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the company reported €96 million in revenue, up 13% year over year, and a 35% adjusted EBITDA margin. Recurring revenue grew 28% to €63 million. North America rose 6% to €29 million, aided by acquisitions including Playmaker Capital and odds calculator AceOdds. Those results, outlined when Better Collective reported €96 million in Q4 revenue, framed a full-year picture of €371 million in sales and €113 million in adjusted EBITDA. Management argued the company was “leaner” and positioned to shape digital sports media globally in 2025 and beyond.
This operational base supports the renewed social strategy. The Playbook integration on X leans into tools that compound over time: social listening, real-time analytics and direct routing to sportsbooks. Playbook’s AI layer reduces the unit cost of personalization. Its odds and slip-recognition features deepen utility. And as the user experience improves, recurring revenue streams and revenue share economics typically strengthen. That is especially important as operators discipline their promotional spending and look for partners who can deliver predictable lifetime value rather than short-lived spikes.
Why social distribution is the battleground
Betting engagement rises and falls with the rhythm of live sports. Social media is where that rhythm is narrated in the moment. Better Collective’s decision to embed Playbook inside X addresses two chronic frictions in legal betting: discovery and action. The move shortens the path from a fan’s impulse to a regulated betslip while keeping the conversation in the same feed. It also offers data advantages. By tapping X’s social listening and analytics, the company can detect sentiment, identify emerging narratives and calibrate offers faster than through traditional web referral paths.
The approach mirrors a broader pivot across sports media and igaming toward products that blend content and commerce. Competitors are chasing similar dynamics through interactive streams, shoppable overlays or in-app bet prompts. The difference here is a full-stack connective tissue between social chatter and sportsbook checkout. If that loop scales internationally as planned, it could turn social channels into high-intent acquisition and retention funnels with lower paid media dependency. The risk is platform concentration. Policy shifts or algorithm changes on a dominant network can disrupt reach or feature access. Still, diversification across markets and operators, plus an owned tech stack, can mitigate that exposure.
Industry signals: growth with pressure points
The market backdrop explains why product-led distribution is attractive now. Flutter Entertainment, parent of FanDuel, posted a 25% revenue jump to US$4.7 billion in the fourth quarter but saw profit fall 94% to US$10 million. For the full year, revenue rose 17% to US$16.3 billion while the company recorded a US$407 million loss. Flutter blamed “bookmaker-friendly” results and lower engagement into early 2026, even as FanDuel held a 41% U.S. sportsbook share. Those dynamics, detailed when Flutter revenue climbed while profit collapsed, highlight how volatility in sports outcomes and user activity can whipsaw operator economics and, by extension, affiliate and media partners.
On the affiliate side, Gentoo Media’s latest quarter showed the other lever: efficiency. The company reported a 5% year-on-year revenue decline to €24 million in the first quarter of 2026 but lifted EBITDA before special items 19% to €10.5 million as margins improved to 44% after cost cuts tied to a 2025 realignment. Operating cash flow rose 61% to €7.4 million. The update, disclosed when Gentoo Media revenue fell 5% in Q1 2026, underscores how affiliates are prioritizing higher-margin revenue streams and scalable acquisition models as sports margins wobble.
Elsewhere in gaming tech, Inspired Entertainment’s interactive segment posted a 45% revenue surge to US$11.6 million in the fourth quarter, helping lift total adjusted EBITDA 22% year over year. Progress in hybrid dealer content and broader geographic strength show operators and suppliers leaning into products that drive engagement across jurisdictions and formats. The trajectory, covered when Inspired Entertainment’s revenue climbed 2% to US$297.1 million, aligns with a market rewarding companies that can package content, data and distribution into stickier user experiences.
What to watch next
As Playbook’s integration with X scales beyond the U.S., watch three markers. First, conversion and retention rates relative to traditional web referrals. If direct messaging and pre-filled slips materially improve net gaming revenue per user, partners will funnel more inventory and co-marketing into the channel. Second, the balance of recurring revenue versus upfront fees. Better Collective’s recent financials already emphasize recurring income. Social-integrated flows could accelerate that mix shift. Third, regulatory and platform risk. Directing betting through social DMs invites scrutiny over responsible gambling, age gating and data usage. Consistent compliance will be key to maintaining operator relationships and platform access.
The sports calendar is a tailwind. Major summer tournaments and the approach of the FIFA World Cup late in the year typically lift engagement. Gentoo Media has already flagged stronger seasonal trends into the second half. If results normalize after a run of bookmaker-friendly outcomes noted by Flutter, handle growth should better track user activity, improving operator and affiliate visibility. In that environment, tech that collapses the distance between fandom and wagering stands to gain share. The bet Better Collective is making is that social is where that gap is smallest, and that Playbook can be the infrastructure that turns conversation into conversion at scale.
