Australia-facing gambling operator PointsBet has denied media reports that it could soon be subject to an AU$300 million (£153 million/€184 million/US$198 million) takeover from an overseas party.
Reports emerged over the weekend that PointsBet had held talks over a possible takeover. The Australian said discussions have taken place with several potential suitors – including at least one in Asia – but did not name any of the interested parties.
The rumours had a marked impacted on PointsBet’s share price, which earlier today (11 November) was trading as high as 13.3% above opening price. At the time of writing, the price is $0.98, some 10.2% ahead of opening pricing.
However, PointsBet has since moved to distance itself from the reports. In a statement sent out today, PointsBet said there have been no such talks over a possible deal.
“Generally, PointsBet does not comment on rumour of speculation,” it said. “However, the company confirms that it is not in discussion as suggested in the article.
“The company will keep the market updated in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligation under ASX Listing Rule 3.1.”
Takeover rumours continue for PointsBet
Since PointsBet sold its US operations to Fanatics in a US$225 million deal last June, rumblings of a bid for the remaining Australian and Canadian operations won’t go away.
Betr, the Australian sportsbook operator co-founded by News Corp Australia and Tekkorp, was linked with a bid by Earnings+More in November last year. However Betr was acquired by BlueBet in April this year.
Stake.com founders Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani, meanwhile, have built up a shareholding of more than 5% in PointsBet. The crypto betting operator has recently started snapping up licensed real-money gaming assets including Betfair Colombia in November 2023 and Italy’s IdealBet in August.
Positive start to FY2025 at PointsBet
The reports come after PointsBet last month posted results for the first quarter of its 2025 financial year. Figures were high across many key verticals, including total net win, which climbed 12% to $65.3 million.
Of this, $60.7 million came from sports betting, a 10% year-on-year rise. PointsBet reported growth across both its Australia and Canada operations, with the latter seeing the largest increase at 77% year-on-year.
Net win from igaming in Q1 was also 50% higher at $4.6 million. All net win in this segment came from activities in Canada. Total Canada net win for Q1 was 62% higher at $8.7 million, with overall Australia net win up 7% to $56.6 million.
Looking to the full year, PointsBet estimates that it will post between $280 million and $290 million in revenue. This, it says, will be driven by its operations outperforming the market in both Australia and Canada. The midpoint of this range, $285 million, would be 6.7% higher than FY2024.
As for EBITDA, guidance places this within a range of $11 million to $16 million for the year. Based on a midpoint of $13.5 million, this would be a significant improvement on the $1.8 million loss in the previous year.
