The potential launch date for Ontario sports betting and iGaming is unclear, but PointsBet is ready and waiting.
During the Australian operator’s earnings call Thursday, CEO Sammy Swanell laid out a grandiose vision for the company north of the border.
The company, which recently signed a multi-year partnership with the Trailer Park Boys, sees Ontario as a great jumping-off point for the Canadian sports betting and iGaming market.
“We eagerly await the announcement of an official launch date for Ontario, which is imminent, and we could not be more pleased with what has been achieved by our team,” Swanell said. “We are dedicated to delivering a brand and an experience that is genuinely Canadian. The deals that we have executed with [Curling Canada, the National Hockey League Alumni Association, and the Trailer Park Boys] are all true to that strategy.”
Partnerships Key to PointsBet’s Ontario Strategy
Swanell said the PointsBet Ontario growing list of partnerships is a key way to build market share in Ontario, while increasing its operating efficiency.
“We are extremely confident in the efficiency of the cut through these partnerships will deliver to grow brand recognition and acquire clients,” Swanell said. “In launching PointsBet’s Canadian product in Ontario, the Canadian team will leverage not only the proprietary technology and market-leading product that the company has built, but also the global scale we now possess with a one-team approach supported by staff in numerous continents.”
PointsBet’s signed a partnership with Curling Canada in October and with the NHL Alumni Association earlier this month.
When it announced the deal with the NHLAA, PointsBet said, “we’re about giving people an authentically Canadian experience.”
PointsBet Big on iGaming
A big financial motivator for PointsBet is the Ontario online casino opportunities new markets like Ontario’s present — as there is a wider audience for those options than sports betting alone.
“The continued growth of the iGaming product is going to be vitally important,” Swanell said. “Sport came back post-COVID in the middle of 2020, sort of had to restart the business. And so, we think by the end of next financial year, we're turning profitable.”
The Australian operator cited in its presentation a company survey that showed a market opportunity of 70 billion U.S. dollars by 2033 in North America, including the company’s Ontario operation, with $18 billion coming from iGaming alone.
Swanell said the company expects Ontario’s iGaming and sports betting operations to be live in the second half of the 2022 fiscal year.
“iGaming net win was up 145% quarter-on-quarter,” Swanell said. “And with West Virginia having launched this week and Pennsylvania and Ontario upcoming, we will see iGaming revenues continue to climb on the back of our ever-improving product suite.”
