PointsBet CEO: Australia regulatory changes “less likely” to come before general election
Sam Swanell says he doesn’t expect any reform ahead of suspected May election as industry awaits new rules on gambling ad ban
PointsBet CEO Sam Swanell has said he does not expect any regulatory changes to come into play in Australia until after the country’s next general election.
The Australian market is currently embroiled in an ongoing battle over whether or not to introduce a blanket gambling ad ban across TV and online, following a 2023 report from the late MP Peta Murphy that listed 31 recommendations into gambling-related harm prevention.
Among those recommendations was a total ban on gambling ads.
Last August, the Albanese Labor government said it was considering a cap system of two adverts per hour until 10pm as an alternative to an outright blanket ban, which resulted in backlash from the Alliance for Gambling Reform and other groups that pointed out it was not a drastic enough measure.
In November, in emails seen by Guardian Australia, communications minister Michelle Rowland apologised to Mark Kempster, a member of Alliance for Gambling Reform’s Voices of Lived Experiences programme, for the ongoing delays to regulatory reform, saying: “I acknowledge the ongoing toll this is taking on you and others, and I’m personally very sorry that we have not been able to secure an outcome thus far.”
At the start of December, the Alliance for Gambling Reform questioned why the Albanese government was able to implement a social media ban for children in six weeks but were yet to introduce gambling ad restrictions.
New South Wales announced a transport ban on gambling ads earlier this week, but still no date in sight for recommended TV and online marketing restrictions.
Asked whether PointsBet was expecting any regulatory changes in the near term during an analyst call following the operator’s H1 results, Swanell said it was unlikely to happen until after the general election.
The Australian general election must be held within the first five months of this year, with it widely expected to be held in May 2025.
Swanell said: “It probably does seem less likely now that anything is going to happen in the shorter term; let’s call it pre-election [and] post-election type considerations.
“We continue to, and so does the industry, put forward logical solutions. I think we called out again today in our briefing, obviously, that there are logical solutions there.
“I think the positive is that some of the rumoured outcomes that we were hearing about last year have been put on hold because of the logical and reasonable feedback.
“We’d like it cleared up full stop. We think there’s a logical solution. We want it dealt with.
“But I think it’s a good recognition that some of the feedback has been listened to and that there are appropriate solutions to be found that can satisfy our needs,” he added.
Looking at PointsBet’s latest trading update, total revenue for H1 2024-25, running from June to December 2024, stood at A$124.4m (£62.5m), a rise of 6% year on year (YoY).
Group EBITDA losses shrank YoY by A$10m, or 75%, to A$3.3m, while cash active customers hit an all-time high of 292,600.
For Q2, group sports betting net win amounted to A$63.6m, compared to A$63.5m the previous year.
On the igaming front, net win saw a 2% decline YoY, from A$6.4m to A$6.3m. However, from Q1 to Q2, igaming net win spiked 39% from A$4.6m.
In Australia, sports betting turnover plummeted 34% YoY to A$591.5m in Q2, although it was up 6% quarter on quarter (QoQ) from the A$557.5m reported in Q1.
For H1 2025, Australia turnover fell 22% YoY, as bosses said the metric was impacted by high-staking, low-margin customers.
Net win Down Under for Q2 landed at A$60.2m, up from A$59.5m in the same period of the previous financial year.
In Canada, sports betting turnover in Q2 and H1 jumped 30% YoY and 40% YoY, to A$97.4m and A$166.7m, respectively.
H1 sports betting net win grew 13% YoY to A$7.2m, despite “unprecedented customer-friendly NFL results in Q2”.
In igaming, turnover in Q2 and H1 also increased by double digits, 20% YoY and 34% YoY to A$310.6m and A$533.9m, respectively.
Net win in Canada across both igaming and sports betting was reported as A$9.4m, down 10% YoY.
The operator’s full-year guidance update stated that revenue is expected to sit between A$260m to A$270m, while EBITDA is expected to be in a range of A$11m to A$14m.