Mr Swanell said PointsBet had also lost market share as its competitors spent big on marketing to attract new customers, but he was reluctant to enter a marketing “arms race” while it was focused building its business with new products that would roll out of the next six months.
“We’ll keep adhering to our strategy, but not ignoring obviously the competitive pressures that are out there. If we have to adjust promotions… obviously that’s part of what we do on an ongoing basis,” he said.
PointsBet is operating in New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Colorado, Iowa and West Virginia and expects to be in 11 more states by the end of 2022.
Jarden analyst Wassim Kisirwani said that the losses of market share, particularly in New Jersey, “points to the high competitive intensity, raising concerns around the sustainability of growing share in the US”.
“We note, however, that [PointsBet] has underspent on marketing… our expectations, and with a significant increase in product breadth coming over the next six months, we see rationality in playing a long game”.
PointsBet said that its turnover in the September quarter grew 42 per cent year-on-year, or up 112 per cent in the US and up 20 per cent in Australia. Active customer grew 79 per cent in Australia year-on-year, and more than tripled (up 367 per cent) in the US.
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