PointsBet is beginning to grow into one of the leading brands in the sports betting industry, and on Tuesday, the sports betting operator posted fourth-quarter numbers in New Jersey, and they did not disappoint. Thanks a PointsBet’s high rolling players, the sports betting operator produced numbers never seen by them.
PointsBet saw an increase of 13.5% in the sports betting handle in the fourth quarter. This is an increase from the two previous quarters thanks to high demand from sports betting after Covid-19 shutdown sportsbooks in the early part of 2020.
Although PointsBet had a negative gross game revenue of -$5 million, and -1.1% hold, it is still happy with the numbers it produced in the final quarter of 2020. CEO Sam Swanell stated a lot of it is thanks to hot streaks led by high ranking players.
PointsBet Thanks New Jersey and Illinois
PointsBet continuous goal in the U.S. is to have a 10% market share in each state it operates in. In the fourth quarter, PointsBet hit that goal in Illinois with a share of 14.7% in the market. This was from the online betting handle, and it came off of 3.6% of the bets.
What has helped in the Illinois market has been PointsBet’s media partnership with NBC Sports Chicago. The sports media giant has a multi-year partnership with the Chicago Blackhawks, Bulls, and White Sox to televise their games on NBC Sports.
With PointsBet also have its retail location just outside the city, this has been the perfect partnership between them and Illinois.
This has brought the high rollers to PointsBet, which is similar to what New Jersey sees. PointsBet has been working towards securing the “diamond whalers” to its platform, knowing the amount of traffic it drives and the business it brings to its platforms.
When a lot of sportsbooks are avoiding high rollers, PointsBet is embracing them.
What’s Next for PointsBet?
The sports betting operator is going to continue to grow over the coming years. It is currently operating in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and New Jersey. PointsBet also built another headquarters in Denver this past year and should enter the Colorado market sometime in 2021.
PointsBet will most likely enter Tennessee this year as well. The Volunteer State has been looking impressive in its first two months with online sports betting and only has four betting operators in the state. This year, more names like PointsBet, William Hill, and others will join Tennessee.
Colorado and Tennessee are two states PointsBet could expand to, but there could be more in the future. Virginia launched sports betting two weeks ago and could be a great state for the Australian sports betting operator to run.
Overall, PointsBet wants at least a 10% market share in each U.S. state before expanding its reach too far. Although there has been a lot of success for the sportsbook, it still wants to take a conservative approach to avoid overextending its reach.
If PointsBet continues to see an increase similar to what it saw in Illinois and New Jersey in the fourth quarter, 2021 should be more lucrative.
