PointsBet will retain ownership of their Ontario operation despite the sale of PointsBet US to Fanatics, according to Sam Swanell, managing director and Group CEO of PointsBet.
“The decision to keep Canada part of the new PointsBet is very deliberate,” Swanell said. “Keeping Canada means shareholders retain exposure to the North American market through a jurisdiction that is more attractive than most U.S. states.
“If you look at the primary driver behind the sale of our U.S. assets in terms of the level of cash investment required to ultimately reach profitability, our present situation and the outlook in Canada are fundamentally different. We see a path to profitability in Canada within 18-24 months, without the need for significant additional capital.”
According to PointsBet’s Q3 FY2023 numbers, the operator’s total net win hit $5.41 million, a 21 percent quarter-over-quarter increase, with $2.12 million from sports betting (a 17 percent increase) and $3.19 million from online casinos (24 percent increase).
PointsBet Canada has sponsorship arrangements with Alpine Canada, the CFL’s Ottawa REDBLACKS, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the Trailer Park Boys, and ClubLink, but their deal setting themselves up as the official sports-betting partner of Curling Canada has been interesting to watch.
As PointsBet Canada’s Chief Commercial Officer Nic Sulsky says, full steam ahead for PointsBet in Canada very much includes further evolving their deal with Curling Canada, announced in 2021.
“While Curling doesn’t yet crack our top five sports PointsBet users bet on, we’ve seen steady growth from major event to major event,” Sulsky said. “Even more importantly in recent months, our dedication to curling has proven to be a major factor behind our substantial growth in Ontario. Our differentiated and unique position within curling, alongside our team partnerships with the incredible Team Einarson and Team Bottche, has provided a significant boost for our brand awareness within Ontario.”
Curling Canada is the sanctioning body for the sport in Canada. Its primary function is to sanction and run national curling championships, like the Tim Hortons Brier (Canadian men’s curling championship) and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts (Canadian women’s curling championship).
As part of the agreement, PointsBet Canada is also the title sponsor of a Curling Canada Season of Champions event.
Curling is played in every province and territory, in 1,000 clubs, and by almost two million per year in Canada (pre-pandemic). There are over 300 hours of Curling Canada events on television each year and the national championships for both men’s and women’s always score big ratings. It’s a game of strategy, where the situation changes constantly and things are decided in centimeters. Fans are very invested in the teams they cheer for.
“From day one, we discussed our vision of both introducing regulated sports betting to the curling fans in a genuinely respectable way and injecting a thrilling new energy into the sport,” Sulsky said. “The quintessential example of that was the development of The PointsBet Invitational, the first-ever single-elimination bracket-style curling tournament, which was held this past September in Fredericton. The unique format, mixed with the event’s dynamic design, had the curling world buzzing and further solidified our commitment to the sport.”
The 2023 curling season kicks off with the second annual PointsBet Invitational at the end of September in Oakville.
“We’ll be unveiling some exciting additions to this year’s PBI in the coming months. So to say the 2023-24 curling season is going to rock is both an easy pun to make and an understatement,” Sulsky said.
