CEO says Sportradar’s unregulated revenue is 5-13% following short sellers’ illegal market accusations

(AsiaGameHub) –   CEO Carsten Koerl told analysts during Sportradar’s Q1 earnings call yesterday that the company’s unregulated revenue falls between 5% and 13%. This disclosure came as analysts questioned the firm over two short-selling reports released last week that alleged Sportradar partnered with a large number of unlicensed platforms.

In a report published last week, Callisto Research estimated the figure could be higher than 270. The firm’s report claimed that a former senior Sportradar employee had informed its team that unlicensed operators could make up 30% to 40% of the data giant’s total revenue mix.

A separate report from Muddy Waters, meanwhile, alleged that a member of Sportradar’s sales team said the company “serves everyone” at ICE Barcelona 2026. At the time, Muddy Waters investigators said they were targeting existing illegal markets Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and China, all of which have formal bans on online gambling in place.

Following the short positions taken by Callisto Research and Muddy Waters, the two reports caused Sportradar’s share price to plummet 22.6% by market close on Wednesday.

Koerl issued a response on LinkedIn the following day, calling the reports “false, misleading and defamatory”.

After Sportradar released its Q1 earnings results on Tuesday, analysts pressed company executives for answers on the claims in the reports, asking Koerl specifically to quantify what share of the business’ revenue mix came from working with unlicensed operators.

“We do not work with black market operators,” Koerl stated during the post-Q1 earnings call. “For the grey market, we have a solid compliance structure in place, and we only work with licensed operators.

“Overall, it’s [between] 5% to 12%, 13%. That’s the range which we have, and we are drilling this down from our operational business.”

CEO Koerl again pushes back on the reports

Koerl opened the analyst call by directly addressing the short seller allegations, branding them as “self-interested” and stating their goal was to deliberately drive down Sportradar’s stock price.

“To be clear, Sportradar and I reject the unfounded and misinformed allegations contained in the reports,” Koerl said. “For 25 years, Sportradar has maintained regulatory licenses in jurisdictions around the world.

“Unfortunately, these actors strive on misinformation and repackaging historical allegations to drive down company stock prices at the expense of long-term focused investors.”

Koerl was asked how leagues and operating partners had reacted to the reports.

He said feedback had been largely positive, explaining: “I get a lot of support from all sites, our partners, our clients, the industry, some commissioners. And from a regulator perspective, we are in contact with some regulators on a very frequent basis.

“Some of them contacted our teams, they explained to them the situation and that’s an ongoing process. Overall, the response was overwhelming for me that I got so much support and feedback on the allegations.”

Koerl responds to ICE event allegations

Koerl also addressed claims that a member of Sportradar’s sales team had offered to introduce Muddy Waters’ investigators to Yabo Group, China’s largest illegal operator.

Per Koerl, Muddy Waters specifically targeted a junior member of Sportradar’s sales team, noting that the company held as many as 4,000 meetings over the course of the event.

Sportradar later interviewed the salesperson in question, with Koerl stating the Muddy Waters report did not capture the full context of their statements, and clarifying that conversations held at industry events take place at the very start of the sales process.

He went on to detail the “very intensive KYC process” in place when Sportradar onboards a new partner.

“When a sales guy is selling something, there is a kickoff of a very intensive KYC process,” Koerl said. “That has the identification, the verification, the licence verification against the regulator, the verification of a corporate filing and the register, which is in there. Then finally, running this through sanction lists from all the available markets where we are acting. And then it goes to a final review of our legal counsel before a contract is signed.

“So this is far off from signing a contract, and this was a purposeful sting campaign on a relatively young sales employee at ICE.

“[There’s] no excuse on this, [it] should not happen, but this was far off from signing a contract or teasing somebody into doing business in illegal markets.”

Sportradar releases Q1 results, posts loss

As part of its results, Sportradar posted a €6 million loss in Q1, despite revenue climbing 11% to €347 million over the period.

The revenue growth drove a 12% year-on-year increase in adjusted EBITDA, which hit €66 million.

Sportradar also announced the appointment of Sameer Deen as COO, with the role taking effect 18 May. Deen joins from Entain, where he has served as the group’s COO and president since December 2023.

Koerl said he expects Deen to prove “instrumental” in advancing Sportradar’s commercial efforts and streamlining its operations.

Commenting on Sportradar’s Q1 performance, Koerl said: “We will continue to drive innovation across our business, uphold the highest levels of integrity and transparency while delivering increasing value to our clients, our partners and our shareholders.

“The underlying fundamentals of the business remain strong, and we are confident in our growth strategy and the opportunities ahead.”