Codere Online blames Mexican peso for problems
Pointing to a 19% devaluation in the Mexican peso, executives of Codere Online repeatedly cited it during their 31 July investor call as the reason the company’s second-quarter earnings were not higher.
The first order of business, however, was the heading off of a threatened NASDAQ delisting. “We have regained compliance with all NASDAQ listing requirements,” opened CEO Aviv Sher. That, he said, “puts an end to the uncertainty around us as a publicly traded company.”
Turning to the peso, he said revenue would have been 12% higher, and not flat year-over-year, had it not been for the devaluation of Mexico’s currency. The company, he said, had 78,000 first-time depositors, mostly in Mexico, and 7% more active users, although they were spending 5% less.
Revenues from Panama were slightly lower, conceded CFO Oscar Iglesias, but he applauded achieving €55 million (US$62.8 million)1 EUR = 1.1423 USD
2025-07-31Powered by CMG CurrenShift in revenue “notwithstanding the significant headwinds we had.” He predicted that marketing spending would be lower in the third and fourth quarters, having been elevated during the Club World Cup tournament.
In Spain, revenues were flat despite slightly higher spending by average customers, new players being fewer in number. Nevertheless, “Mexico remains our priority from a market-investment standpoint.”
Sher said Spain was “still a hard, competitive landscape. We managed to find the formula to keep on track” with Codere’s key performance indicators.”
During the Wimbledon fortnight, “we had more traction because of [Carlos] Alcaraz,” continued Sher. Added Iglesias, “Having the Club World Cup was definitely helpful for us to bridge this slow period” as well.
While a presidentially imposed, value-added tax in Colombia was diminishing results there, Iglesias was “quite optimistic” about Mexico. The peso, he said, was “strengthening more than we were expecting.”
Codere’s strategy in Mexico was, Sher resumed “the playbook that … can be applied” to other countries. Still, “in order to execute such a strategy you need a lot of money. The media prices are a bit higher than in the past.”
Sher allowed that “the small elephant in the room is Colombia. The business there is struggling.” He called the new tax “harsh … basically around 50%,” and that he was hoping to offset Colombian setbacks with success in Panama.
“It’s safe to say our top-line impact (from the Colombian levy) was significant, let’s say 40%,” said Iglesias. “Everyone is struggling because of the magnitude of the tax.”
This prompted a query as to whether the Colombian market was viable, should the tax remain in place. “We can only answer for ourselves,” Iglesias replied. “It’s not clear.”
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David McKee is an award-winning journalist who has three decades of experience covering the gaming industry.
