Key Points
- Revenue tanked 16% to A112.7m, while the normalised EBITDA swung from A2.9m profit to a A$6.9m loss.
- The high-value customers in Australia, the ones that tend to splash the cash, cut back on their spending after the company tightened up compliance, and promotions still accounted for nearly a third of their gross winnings.
- MIXI’s loan has reached A$21m by the end of September, and PointsBet is also worried it’ll be forced to shut up shop for a couple of days in Ontario.
Despite the Australian and Canadian customer base growing, PointsBet still managed to rack up a A22.2m drop in revenue. What a mixed bag of results. On one hand, they added customers; on the other, their earnings took a hit. It seems that less spending from those high-value Aussies, plus promotional costs and Canadian losses all chipped in to make this a forgettable six months for the company. PointsBet also ended up having to borrow more from MIXI, as the loan tally reached A21m by the end of September.
Revenue Plunges A$22.2m Between April and September
PointsBet reported revenue of A112.7m for the six months to 30 September, down from A134.9m in the previous comparable period. Its normalised EBITDA swung from a A2.9m profit to a A6.9m loss.
The statutory EBITDA loss was even worse at A$8.5m. That’s because they had to leave out some one-off expenses, as well as share-based payments which aren’t in the normalised EBITDA.
There are a couple of different periods being used in their report, so some of the figures might look a bit wonky. They compare revenue and customer numbers to the period from April to September 2025. But if you want to look at the financial statements, then they stick to the period from 30 September to 31 December 2025. Why the difference? Because PointsBet used to have a June financial year-end, but they’ve since changed it to March, which has caused all of this confusion.
High Value Australian Customers Pull Back After Compliance Tightening
Australia accounted for most of the revenue fall. Aussie revenue dropped 19% to A91.8m, and the total amount wagered on Australian sports also fell 14% to A1.03bn.
They did end up with a few more active customers, but unfortunately, revenue from these customers took a hit. What’s behind the decline in Australian revenue? PointsBet reckons its highest value customers are largely responsible for the downturn in turnover and revenue. They’ve all taken a hit after the company introduced what was described as “proactive” compliance measures. Unfortunately, we’re not told what these measures actually were.
Management called them “important decisions”, a bit of a vague way of putting it, in what they say is an increasingly complex regulatory environment in Australia.
Promotional costs still are eating into gross win a lot more than they used to. Promotions accounted for 27.9% of gross win during the six months, up from 24.4% in the previous comparable period. That jumped even higher to 32.8% in August and September.
The good news is that PointsBet actually spent 2% less on Australian promotions in cash terms. The bad news is that the ratio got bigger because the gross win dropped even further.
Australian Advertising and Compliance Regulations Add Costs
Australian gambling rules continue to add more costs for the bookies. ACMA published its 2025 report concerning 508 promotional materials which were sent to those who self-excluded from gambling.
ACMA also reported over 800 breaches of spam regulations. As a result, the company had to pay an A$500,800 fine and court-enforceable undertakings. Self-exclusion breach fines did not entail any financial penalty since ACMA did not have such authority.
More limitations on advertising in regard to wagering will be implemented starting from 1 January 2027. It is related to advertising during the sports games’ broadcasts. According to the statement of Group CEO Andrew Catterall to shareholders, “The business model going forward will be more complex and more costly.”
Number of Canadian Clients Increase While Revenue Decreases
It is possible to note a similar pattern in the company’s results in Canada where the number of customers is increasing while revenue is decreasing. Revenue dropped 6% to A$20.9m despite an 18% increase in the number of cash active clients up to 72,793.
The currency exchange rate explains the drop in the reported revenue. Revenue in Canadian dollars has increased by 3% due to a 10% appreciation of the Australian dollar. Currency fluctuations have impacted the reported results reducing the revenue by more than A$2m.
Casino operations accounted for most of the company’s results. Handle in iGaming increased by 10% but net win was down 1% to A$15.2m. At the moment online casinos constitute nearly 88% of Ontario handle and about 73% of gaming revenue.
More pressure was put on sports bets. Gross win decreased by 17% to A8.9m. Net win dropped to A5.7m and handle decreased by 38%. Weakness was caused by churn in a certain small portion of high-stakes clients in the first quarter.
Statutory segment EBITDA loss of Canada widened from A4.1mtoA6.8m. Growth in casinos has not been enough to generate profits in Canada yet.
PointsBet awaits permission to start operating in Alberta regulated market. The market was opened on 13 July 2026 but the company has not obtained such permission yet. Management still targets entering Alberta before the end of 2026 with all regulatory approvals. There are over 30 operators competing in the province.
PointsBet Agrees to 2 Day Suspension in Ontario
PointsBet Canada is in a bit of trouble in Ontario, thanks to a case with a betting alert and NBA player Jontay Porter that dates back to 2024. The authorities were looking at a bet rigging scheme involving Porter and asked licensed sportsbooks if they’d taken any bets on the player.
PointsBet initially told the Ontario gaming regulator, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), that they weren’t offering any bets on Porter, only to change their story later after a US indictment came to light.
Fast forward to 12th of February 2026 and the AGCO proposed banning PointsBet Canada from operating its online gaming in Ontario for 5 whole days. The regulator called this proposed action a “first for Ontario’s regulated online gaming industry”. PointsBet apologised and said that human error had been the cause of this mess during a period of organisational change, and that they’d been fully co-operating with the investigation all along.
A settlement was eventually reached on the 20th of October, reducing this proposed ban from 5 days to a much more manageable 2.
MIXI Loan Reaches A$21m as PointsBet’s Debt Skyrockets
PointsBet has been relying on funding from MIXI a lot more in recent months, ever since March. MIXI Australia took over a 66.4% stake in September 2025 after winning a takeover bid against a rival bidder.
Things were pretty decent on the 31st of March, PointsBet had a healthy A4.7m in corporate cash and an A8m loan facility from MIXI that they’d drawn down by A$3m.
By the 30th of September however, things had changed. PointsBet had drawn down this loan facility to A23m and had taken out a massive A21m of that. Including any interest they’d built up, they were now A21.3m in debt. And get this, their net liabilities nearly doubled, from A$17.5m to A$34.8m.
You’ll be glad to know that PointsBet don’t have to repay any of this debt all at once, each loan repayment can be repaid within 12 months after it was drawn down. This means the debt won’t have a single, obvious repayment date.
Expert Analysis: The Customers PointsBet Is Choosing to Lose
It’s tempting to blame all the promotional spending for PointsBet’s poor results, but the real issue is actually with the customers they’re losing.
Our view is that PointsBet is choosing to drop the bigger spenders, and is relying on new customers to make up for the lost revenue. This might work, but it’s hard to say for sure, and the current results aren’t exactly filling us with confidence.
Canada is a great example of this. Even though they managed to get an 18% increase in active clients, their profits (or EBITDA) went down anyway.
Investors are getting a bit spooked now, they know the compliance measures have been costing PointsBet a pretty penny, but they’re not really sure what they’ve actually achieved so far. And now this latest issue with Ontario’s gaming regulator is adding to their concerns.
It’s not just the Ontario case though, PointsBet still needs to sort out their monitoring and reporting processes in Ontario, while all this is going on. And to make matters worse, they’re also still working under strict compliance rules in Australia.
We’ll be keeping an eye on things like the exact dates of the Ontario ban, when PointsBet start operating in Alberta, and whether they need to borrow even more cash from MIXI.
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