Hacksaw's Q1: The 82% Margin Studio That Just Keeps Compounding
Hacksaw Gaming's Q1 2026 results are the annual reminder that studio economics don't have to look like the rest of the iGaming industry. While operators navigate prediction market headwinds and B2B aggregators compete on content volume, Hacksaw posted its highest-ever quarterly revenue with margins that most software companies in any sector would consider exceptional.
What Happened
Q1 2026 revenue reached €57.6 million, a 28.1% year-on-year increase. Adjusted EBIT of €47.4 million represented an 82% margin — slightly ahead of the 81.7% posted in Q1 2025 — confirming that Hacksaw's margin profile is expanding rather than compressing as the business scales. Total profit for the quarter was €45.5 million, up 51.1%, and operating cash flow grew from €40.8 million to €45.7 million.
Hacksaw signed 79 deals during the quarter, including 59 new client partnerships. Headline wins included bet365 in Pennsylvania (US iGaming market entry), William Hill in Italy, and Delaware North in West Virginia. The company separately announced a strategic initiative to invest capital into early-stage iGaming firms — deploying its cash generation into a portfolio of upstream equity stakes in emerging studios, technology providers, or infrastructure businesses.
Why It Matters
Hacksaw's 82% EBITDA margin is not the result of cutting costs — it reflects a deliberate studio model built around high production quality, controlled release cadence, and premium distribution agreements with tier-1 operators who pay for exclusivity periods and promotional integration rather than pure volume. The bet365 Pennsylvania deal is commercially significant beyond the headline: bet365's US expansion is measured and selective, and its choice of Hacksaw for Pennsylvania entry content reflects where operators position premium studios in their competitive stack.
The early-stage investment mandate is a new chapter: Hacksaw turning its cash generation into upstream equity positions in emerging studios and technology companies. This is the playbook that has historically been executed by aggregators and platform providers, not content studios — Hacksaw's entry into the investment space signals a new phase of studio consolidation where well-capitalised content companies begin acquiring or seeding the next generation of game developers.
Industry Context
With €45.7 million in quarterly operating cash flow and minimal capex requirements (content studios do not build physical infrastructure), Hacksaw's balance sheet provides investment capacity that smaller studios can only access through external funding. The early-stage investment strategy effectively converts Hacksaw's content dominance into a venture portfolio — a flywheel model where successful investments provide both financial returns and early access to content and technology that can be integrated into Hacksaw's own product roadmap.
Source: NEXT.io / Gambling Insider
Alex Biliy
Senior Editor
Member of the iGaming Pulse editorial team. Covering industry news, analysis, and B2B developments across the global iGaming sector.
