Leadership of Better Collective is confident that its AI-powered Playbook “can become a core platform for sports bettors worldwide”, having secured a global expansion of its partnership with social media platform X.
Announced the same time as the firm unveiled its Q1 2026 financial results, Playbooks’ deal with X has been expanded geographically. The partnership was initially launched in the US, but has now been made a global official partner.
Better Collective’s betting tools will now be made available to X users globally. The firm has cited “rapid user adoption” in the US as influencing the decision to take the platform global via X.
In a letter to investors in the firm’s Q1 breakdown, Jesper Søgaard, Better Collective Chief Executive Officer, said that the platform had “advanced further across user engagement, product development and commercialisation” during the quarter.
“Following the initial success we are excited to expand our partnership with X,” Søgaard remarked. “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.”
X’s initial partnership with Playbook last October came as Elon Musk’s social media platform stepped up its engagement with the betting and predictions spaces respectively, having previously signed deals with LiveScore Group and Polymarket.
Via this week’s expansion, X is launching a new feature, Direct Message Playbook, where users can receive a pre-filled betslip.
Social media users will also be able to share bet ideas or screenshots via the integration, as well as the features Playbook and X have already been testing in the US – such as image recognition and betslip conversion into smart deep links for a user’s followers to track.
“Better Collective has been an incredible partner, delivering real value and a smooth experience for X users,” said Chris Park, Global Head of Developer Platform at X. “We’re excited to expand the partnership globally with Playbook, adding new features that create a richer experience for the massive sports and fan community on our platform.”
The combination of gambling content and social media is not without its critics, however.
Betting marketing on social media platforms like X has faced criticism in countries like the UK, whether by licensed or unlicensed operators.
Better Collective and X may have to tread carefully to ensure they do not find themselves embroiled in the extensive political debates around gambling advertising and marketing, as well as ensuring the integration meets the legal requirements of different global markets.
Playbook, Playmaker, and the Better Collective vision
As mentioned above, Better Collective announced the X deal the same time as publishing its financial results for the first quarter.
The company reported a 5% year-on-year revenue increase compared to Q1 2025: first-quarter revenue amounted to €86m ($92.0m), up from €81m ($86.7m) a year earlier. EBITDA also rose by 14% — from €22m ($23.5m) to €25m ($26.8m), while net profit after tax increased by more than 54% — from €4m ($4.3m) to €7m ($7.5m). Revenue, EBITDA and profit all benefited from an increase in new depositing customers across its business and partner operators, while North American revenue in particular rose 46%.
This performance in North America was largely driven by Playmaker HQ, the Americas-facing media business Better Collective acquired back in 2023.
In his letter to investors, Soogard asserted that Playmaker has “expanded its talent roster, strengthened its position in the North American sports podcast landscape, and built a highly attractive commercial platform around unique content generated by some of the biggest North American sports names”.
“We are seeing strong and consistent demand for its shows, not only from sportsbook partners, but also from a broader group of blue-chip brands seeking brand exposure to highly engaged sports audiences,” he said.
The group does expect both EBITDA and profitability to be impacted by tax raises in the UK and Brazil, however, which will lead to cutbacks in operator marketing budgets in both markets – budgets that would usually include spend on affiliate and media partners like Better Collective.
Despite tax headwinds in some markets, the firm still expects to close 2026 in a broadly solid position. Issuing year-end guidance, Better Collective leadership predicts revenue growth of between 7-12%, EBITDA (before special items) growth of 8-18%, and net debt 3x below EBITDA.
“We started 2026 with a return to organic growth of 5% or 9% in constant currencies, reaching €86m ($92.0m) in revenue, driven by strong momentum in Paid Media, talent-led Media and North American revenue share,” the firm’s CEO concluded.
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