Under the ownership of Fanatics Betting and Gaming (FBG), PointsBet rebranded to online casino customers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia with the tagline, “PointsBet, a Fanatics Experience.”
The rebrand resulted from FBG receiving regulatory approval in eight states.
Fanatics will also have an online sports betting presence in:
- Colorado
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Maryland
- Virginia
For now, the PointsBet online casino brand will be in operation in six states until regulatory approval is granted for more. Those states are:
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Louisiana
- Michigan
- New York
- Ohio
On September 1, Matt King, CEO of FBG, told Pechanga.net the company has a 10-year plan focusing on the customer rather than market share.
“We are going to acquire customers efficiently, allowing us to return savings to customers by investing in the customer experience at Fanatics Sportsbook and PointsBet, a Fanatics Experience.”
With the Fanatics deal done, the Australian-based PointsBet is reallocating its energy to software development and squeezing profits from other endeavors.
The deal between PointsBet and Fanatics has gone as expected for both sides.
Capital from the initial closing of the sale will go back to shareholders in mid-September, with the rest in March. After that the effort goes to pumping up growth in Canada and Australia as well as technology.
For the next two years, PointsBet expects to break even in its two major markets or close to it.
For FY23, PointsBet reported a loss of $23.21 million in Canadian EBITDA for a business that opened in April 2022. In the meantime the company reported $64.8 million of positive EBITDA from Australia, where it’s been live since 2017.
The company plans to turn a profit in fiscal 2025 buoyed by a 15 to 20 percent shrinkage reduction in marketing expenses. CEO Sam Swanell called the plan “PointsBet 2.0.”
“I think everyone can understand that the U.S. has been somewhat all-encompassing getting through this process and now getting through the sale process,” Swanell told LSR. “Bringing that focus and that expertise [to] purely play in Australia and Canada, combined with our already strong trajectory, we’re really confident in our ability to grow our market share in Australia.”
PointsBet took over $126 million of sports bets in Canada from July 2022 to June 30, 2023, its first full year of reporting. Its Canada sports betting net win was $6.8 million and $18.3 million for iGaming, where it saw 30,423 cash active clients.
Swanell called Canada a more attractive market than the U.S. because capital costs are lower, as are taxes, meaning higher operating margins, lower capital costs and higher operating margins from lower taxes. In the U.S. last year, PointsBet accounted for a seventh–best 3.2 percent of the sports betting market, according to LSR projections.
It reported $1.7 billion in handle in Australia, up 4 percent year-over-year, and an 8 percent win margin, slightly ahead of last year.
Swanell indicated PointsBet retains the rights to use and develop its tech stack post-sale, adding that the purchase has “validated” its promise.
“While we have sold a copy of the technology to the Fanatics, importantly, we get to keep the technology,” Swanell told LSR. “It’s very important for shareholders to understand how valuable the PointsBet technology has become. It has been one of the critical features of the interest in our company by numerous groups and it bodes well for the value and the future of the Australian and Canadian businesses.”
