Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the PointsBet Holdings Limited H1 FY 2022 financial results call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one on your telephone. If you require any further assistance, please press star zero. I would now like to hand the conference over to the Group CEO, Sam Swanell. Please go ahead.
Good morning. I'd like to thank you for joining this call for the PointsBet Holdings Limited half year 2022 results. This is Sam Swanell, Group CEO. I'm joined today by Group CFO, Andrew Mellor. Today, we will talk to our investor presentation, which was lodged with the ASX this morning, together with our half year financial report. All figures in this presentation are in AUD unless otherwise stated. Turning to slides four and five. H2 FY 2022 has been a period of great progress for PointsBet. During the half, we saw improvement in relation to many of our core financial metrics compared to the PCP, and we've also made great strides in terms of expanding our addressable market and delivering on our product vision.
Since July 2021, we've increased the number of live sports wagering states from 6 to 10 with the addition of West Virginia, and recently New York and Pennsylvania. We launched our inaugural iGaming product in Michigan in June, which now includes live dealer games and PointsBet-branded VIP tables. This was quickly followed by iGaming launches in New Jersey and West Virginia, and we anticipate launching iGaming in Pennsylvania in March, having received our license last month, and Ontario in April as part of our Canadian launch. The recent sports wagering launches in Virginia, New York, and Pennsylvania are obviously very substantial markets and allow PointsBet to leverage key strategic NBC Regional Sports Network assets in each market and to monetize more broadly our national media assets. We continue to focus on expanding our total addressable market.
In September 2021, we announced an exclusive agreement with Austin FC of Major League Soccer, gaining market access in the state of Texas, subject to the passing of enabling legislation and licensure. Texas has a growing population of over 29 million. As the first and only pro sports team located in Austin, in addition to our statewide online access, the partnership will also provide for the only retail sports wagering presence in Austin, which is among the fastest-growing cities in the United States. During the half, PointsBet also announced that NFL all-time great, Drew Brees, had officially joined the PointsBet team. Brees has transitioned to a broadcasting career with NBC Sports and has deepened the NBC Sports and PointsBet relationship. In August 2021, we announced our appointment as one of only 7 NFL-approved sportsbook operators.
The relationship provided PointsBet with sponsorship opportunities and brand visibility via unique integrations across various television and digital assets, including NFL-owned networks, as well as their full suite of media partners. PointsBet also gained use of official NFL data, ultimately enhancing the customer experience. During the half, the company has continued to invest in the development of its in-house scalable technology platform, resulting in the launch of new products and enhancements. We were thrilled that our U.S. app was ranked second out of 34 in the latest Eilers & Krejcik app-by-app testing, just behind FanDuel. This is a testament to the fact that PointsBet is now hitting its stride and building upon the investment we have made in our technology and product. In January, PointsBet became the first sports book to offer live in-game, same-game parlay options for NFL and NBA contests as part of its Banach proprietary technology integration.
This provided clients with the ability to instantly build their perfect PointsBet Live same-game parlay while tracking odds, player performance, and team statistics. In Australia, the December quarter saw the seamless delivery of record activity across the Spring Carnival. It is imperative that we deliver a reliable, secure, and scalable system that meets the needs of our clients on peak days, such as Melbourne Cup Day. At its peak on Caulfield Cup and Everest Day, PointsBet Australia processed over 4,000 bets per minute, up 2.5 x on last year. On Melbourne Cup Day, we processed over 683,000 bets for the day, setting a new record.
Similarly, PointsBet had a successful 2022 Super Bowl earlier this month, becoming the first-ever sports betting operator to integrate into Super Bowl programming, including pregame segments and NBC ticker integration with viewership in the tens of millions. Underpinning our operational success was PointsBet's in-house technology, which again continued its impressive record of successfully managing peak days without incident in both Australia and the U.S.. Following our New York launch, we are now among an exclusive group of operators that are live in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. We have the NBC Sports Philadelphia via our relationship as the official sports betting partner of NBC. This delivers us integrations exclusivity for all 76ers, Phillies, and Flyers games, an extremely powerful asset. In New York, we are again leveraging our NBC relationship through SNY, a part of the NBC Sports Group.
SNY is the regional broadcast home of Major League Baseball's New York Mets. In addition to carrying supplemental coverage of the NFL's New York Jets, they offer PointsBet year-round multi-platform media and marketing opportunities. Before I wrap up the introduction, I would like to provide an update on Canada. Ontario has a population of nearly 15 million people and would represent the fifth-largest U.S. state. PointsBet was the first operator to be approved by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, and we will be on the starting line on April 4th. We are dedicated to delivering a brand and experience that is genuinely Canadian. The deals that we have executed with dailyfaceoff.com, The Nation Network, Curling Canada, the National Hockey League Alumni Association, and the Trailer Park Boys are all true to this strategy.
In launching PointsBet Canada into Ontario, the Canadian team will leverage not only the proprietary technology and market-leading product the company has built, but also the global scale we now possess with a one-team approach supported by staff in numerous continents. This is our first opportunity to hard launch into a North American jurisdiction on the starting line. For all future new jurisdiction launches, PointsBet plans to be hard launching on day one of the market opening, and we're excited by the and the other upside this will bring. Turning to slide six.
As previously disclosed in our Q1 and Q2 activity reports, the global trading businesses delivered net win growth of 77% for the six months to 31 December 2022, to be referred to as the reporting period, as compared to the prior corresponding period of six months to 31 December 2021, to be referred to as the PCP. I will now hand over to Andrew Mellor to walk through our financial results.
Thank you, Sam. Now turning to slide eight. I will speak to our normalized results today. However, please note that there is a summary of our statutory results on slide 34, and a reconciliation of the normalized results to the statutory results included in the review of operations and on slide 35 of this presentation. The group's net win for FY 2022 was AUD 146.7 million. Net revenue is then calculated post-adjustments being made for GST paid in Australia, B2B revenue from PointsBet Europe, revenue earned via our U.S. Racing ADW business, and other relevant fair value adjustments. For the reporting period, PointsBet reported net revenue of AUD 139.1 million, a growth of 85% versus the PCP. Gross profit of AUD 54.7 million represented growth of 114% over the PCP.
However, it should be noted that we had short-term trading variances in the U.S. during the PCP, which saw U.S. PCP gross profit margin lower than would be in a normalized trading environment. Group gross profit margin for the reporting period was 39%, lower than the gross profit margin of 45% we achieved for FY 2021. This was mainly due to a lower gross profit margin in Australian trading business due to lower net win margins in H1 FY 2022 compared to FY 2021, as well as the increase in some taxes and product fees, including an increase in the point of consumption tax in the state of Victoria from July 1, 2021. Pleasingly, the U.S. business H1 FY 2022 gross profit margin increased as compared to FY 2021.
As previously disclosed in our Q1 and Q2 activity reports, group sales and marketing expense was AUD 124.1 million for the reporting period, with Australia accounting for AUD 44.7 million and the U.S. accounting for AUD 78.2 million, being $57.2 million. This increased marketing investment assisted in the delivery of 232,000 cash active clients in Australia and 211,000 cash active clients in the U.S. as at 31 December 2021. For the details about our previously disclosed 12-month cash active clients can be found on slides 14 and 18. The U.S. strategy does require upfront marketing investment to establish and grow market share and drive future revenue growth, and the U.S. marketing expense is expected to proportionally increase as our state footprint expands.
We do note commentary from some of our U.S. competitors, some of whom spent at least 10 times more than PointsBet in Q4, regarding their intention to significantly cut marketing spend and promotions. As we have called out since the start of the NFL season, there is no doubt that some operators have overinvested from a marketing and promotions perspective, and this led to challenging economics for the entire sector and a skewed view of some operators' true market share. We believe market share gained on the back of overaggressive promotions will be eroded as these promotions are wound back. Through the half, during a period of aggressive marketing spend from our competitors, we maintained our disciplined and ROI-focused approach to marketing and promotional spend.
A pullback in competitive marketing promotion aggression will lead to a greater share of voice for PointsBet's continued disciplined marketing investment, provide greater client exposure to our ever-improving market-leading product and service offering. As referenced to our Q2 results last month, the Australian marketing expense will be significantly lower in H2 versus H1, and I'll provide additional commentary on this later in the presentation. When combining marketing plans across the U.S., Australia, and Canada, it should be noted that we expect group marketing expense for H2 to be only marginally higher than H1. Employee benefits expenses increased over the reporting period in both Australia and the U.S. Employees at the 31st of December 2021 grew to 539, up 65% from the 31st of December 2020. More than half of these employees are part of our product and technology teams.
In addition, we also use the services of third-party service providers. We expect headcount to grow over H2, with the majority of the additional staff added to product and technology. Product and technology expenses increased versus the PCP. During the reporting period, the company was operational in Australia and eight U.S. states, being New Jersey, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Colorado, Michigan, West Virginia, and Virginia. As a result, compared to the PCP, costs related to new state rollouts have increased, as well as our betting volumes. The costs associated with developing, hosting, operating, and securing our technology and data platforms across the jurisdictions. As we launch into potentially five additional jurisdictions in H2, we expect the product and technology costs will increase compared to H1. The normalized EBITDA loss was AUD 126 million for the reporting period.
As always, we continue to take a disciplined and focused approach to cost management, and always remain nimble and able to make relevant adjustments to expenditure where we determine it to be appropriate. Turning to slide nine, I will now speak to our business segments. Further details can be seen in note two of our consolidated financial statements. On a statutory basis, the Australian Trading segment recorded net revenue of AUD 97.6 million, an increase of 27% versus the PCP, and an EBITDA loss of AUD 16.1 million in the reporting period compared to the EBITDA profit of AUD 8 million in the PCP. To be clear, we expect the Australian Trading business to be EBITDA positive for the full year.
As communicated at the quarterly update in January, the company's FY 2022 marketing strategy was to front end the marketing expense significantly into H1 to take advantage of the Shaquille O'Neal campaign and through the Spring Racing Carnival. As a result, the H1 FY 2022 marketing expenses was AUD 44.7 million, which contributed to an EBITDA loss of AUD 16.1 million for the reporting period. We look at the business on a full year basis and understand well the seasonality nuances across the financial year. Therefore, we chose to upfront the marketing in H1, and this has delivered positive business momentum into the second half, namely significant improved brand awareness and importantly, growth in the H1 active customer base, which will help contribute significantly to second half revenue.
On the back of this positive momentum created, it allows the marketing expense to be reduced significantly in H2, and we expect it to be approximately circa AUD 60 million for this coming half. As a result, the company expects the Australian trading business to be EBITDA positive for FY 2022. On a statutory basis, the U.S. trading segment recorded net revenue of AUD 40.3 million and an EBITDA loss of AUD 94.2 million in the reporting period. This loss was driven primarily by the U.S. marketing expense of AUD 78.2 million as we expanded operations across eight U.S. states and as we continue to grow our U.S.-based execution team. The technology segment derives its revenues from licensing fees charged to the Australian trading business and the group subsidiaries in the United States, as well as from B2B operations.
The technology segment recorded inter-segment revenue of AUD 12.2 million in the reporting period. Please note this revenue is eliminated in the company's consolidated results. In addition, during the period, the technology segment recorded B2B revenues of AUD 1.2 million derived from PointsBet Europe. On a statutory basis, EBITDA for the technology segment for the reporting period was a loss of AUD 6.8 million compared to the PCP loss of AUD 3.7 million. Corporate administrative costs are costs that cannot be readily allocated to individual operating segments. Statutory EBITDA for the corporate segment for the reporting period was a loss of AUD 13.5 million compared to a PCP loss of AUD 6.4 million, which was largely driven by increased listing company costs associated with the August 2021 capital raise, as well as an increase in the number of corporate employees.
As Canadian operations are not yet live, the Canadian operational costs have been allocated to the corporate segment. The statutory EBITDA loss for the group was AUD 130.6 million for the reporting period. After accounting for net finance costs of AUD 4.5 million, net foreign exchange gains of AUD 1.6 million, and a depreciation amortization expense of AUD 12.9 million, the statutory loss for the reporting period was AUD 146.4 million. Turning to slide 10. The balance sheet was strengthened over the reporting period with the group having net assets of AUD 742.8 million as at the 31st of December 2021. Net asset movements as compared to 30 June 2021 are driven primarily by cash received upon completion of the AUD 400 million capital raise in August 2021.
Intangible assets increased from AUD 143 million - AUD 189 million. Firstly, as a result of continued investment in our betting platform through the capitalization of product and technology employee costs. Secondly, as a result of investment in U.S. licenses and market access fees, including a U.S. $25 million payment to the New York State Gaming Commission for market access to the state of New York. The prepayments balance includes prepayments for future marketing spend relating to equity previously issued to NBCU, representing a future offset to total marketing commitment under that partnership. Liabilities include a financial liability relating to the fair value of the debt component of the share options issued as part of the NBCU transaction. The AUD 80.6 million includes the notional interest charge and fair value loss in the financial liability for the reporting period.
Liabilities also include an amount received as a partial New York license fee reimbursement from Resorts World Bet, a subsidiary of Genting Group, as part of our B2B platform provider agreement to power the Resorts World Bet online sportsbook operation in New York State. This amount will be proportionally recorded as revenue over the life of the agreement. This strategic B2B agreement should be viewed as an accretive and valuable partnership for the company, but not indicative of a larger B2B strategy at PointsBet. Turning to slide 11. I will briefly touch on the cash flows, as these have been previously disclosed and detailed as part of our quarterly 4C reporting obligations in October 2021 and January 2022. In summary, net cash outflow used in operating activities, excluding the movements in player accounts for the reporting period, was AUD 94 million.
Net cash outflows for investing activities was AUD 55.3 million, and net cash inflow from financing activities was AUD 422.9 million. The company held AUD 523.3 million in corporate cash as of the 31st of December 2021 and has no corporate debt. I will now provide an overview of the Australian trading business. Turning to slide 13. The Australian trading business continues its strong performance, ending the reporting period with turnover of AUD 1.3 billion, up 27% compared to the PCP, and net win of AUD 107.9 million, up 27% from the PCP. Gross win margin and net win margin were 13.3% and 7.9% respectively for the reporting period.
Further commentary about the Australian trading business' performance can be found in the quarterly activities report for Q1 and Q2. Our ability to operate a growing business in the advanced and competitive Australian market, backed by continually improving product and growing brand recognition, provides confidence in the continued execution of our U.S. strategy. Given the growing scale of the Australian trading business, during Q2, we established dedicated technology and product structures to focus on Australian-led initiatives as we continue to improve our Australian offering. Recruitment for an Australian CEO is progressing well as we seek to find the ideal candidate to drive the next stage of growth in Australia. We were also pleased to join Responsible Wagering Australia, the independent peak body for Australian licensed wagering service providers in January. RWA is committed to ensuring that Australia has one of the best-conducted, socially responsible wagering industries in the world.
We look forward to engaging with the key stakeholders on behalf of PointsBet and the wider corporate bookmaking industry. I will now hand back to Sam to talk to the U.S.
Thanks, Andy. Turning to slide 16. For the reporting period, the U.S. business achieved a sports betting gross win of $70.8 million at a gross win margin of 7.5% compared to gross win of $17.7 million in the PCP, with a sports betting net win of $31.3 million at a net win margin of 3.3% compared to a negative net win of $2 million for the PCP. As communicated in January 2021, the December 2020 quarter, the handle gross win and net win result was impacted by short-term trading variances, which reversed in January 2021, and as such, the PCP comparison growth rates should be viewed with this in mind. In addition, the U.S. business achieved iGaming net win of $7.6 million.
This delivered an overall U.S. net win of $38.8 million for the six months to 31 December 2021. The trading results of individual states for the half can be seen in the Q1 and Q2 activities reports released in October 2021 and January 2022. As a reminder, our U.S. focus is aimed at ensuring every client we acquire is capable of being net revenue-generating. Rather than focusing on the sheer number of actives, our team are focused on targeting, procuring, and retaining the right clients. PointsBet's blended U.S. online handle market share in the states we are operational, consolidated to 4.2% for Q2 FY 2022 compared to 4.5% in Q1. Now turning to slide 17. For the reporting period, marketing expenses were $57.2 million.
As previously reported, overall U.S. working media cost per FTB was under $500 for the half. We continue to invest in marketing and growing the brand across the U.S.. Cash actives for the 12 months to 31 December grew to 211,000, 210% compared to the PCP. It should be noted that this metric also reflects our retention efforts, not just acquisition volumes. A sizable portion of the reporting period's marketing investment was into audiences outside of our operational states. This investment acts to build brand awareness and a database to assist upcoming state launches. Investment into RSNs in Washington, D.C., New York, and Philadelphia during the half has delivered heightened early-stage acquisition volumes for Virginia, New York, and Pennsylvania since launching in those states in the last two months.
We noted in the FY 2022 Q1 call that there was an opportunity to better utilize our tactical promotions. A number of optimizations were made during Q2, refining our approach with a focus on rewarding our higher value, engaged client cohort and gaining an improved share of wallet from them. We reinvested a smaller proportion of gross gaming revenue on promotions in Q2 compared to Q1. As made public by the New York State Gaming Commission on 13th of August 2021, PointsBet, as an approved platform provider, will also provide Resorts World, a wholly owned subsidiary of Genting Group, with B2B mobile sports wagering services in the state of New York. As noted by Andy, this strategic B2B agreement should be viewed as an accretive and valuable partnership for the company, but not indicative of a larger B2B strategy of PointsBet.
Aside from the unique opportunity presented by this partnership, we remain focused on our B2C sportsbook and iGaming operations. Turning to slide 19. The NBC and PointsBet partnership entered its second year at the start of September, and the partnership continues to drive results and break new ground in the category. We are pleased with how the partnership continues to develop and excited for the innovation we have planned in the second half. An example of this has already been seen, PointsBet being the first-ever sportsbook operator to be integrated into the coverage of a Super Bowl. The coming period will include an increased digital plan, incorporating NBC's new regional connected TV and over-the-top solution, Spot On.
There are also additional opportunities for inclusion on their quickly growing streaming platform, Peacock. This combination of national and regional networks, along with local television assets, gives us the ability to create bespoke marketing strategies to reach our target audience. It should be noted that at the end of the half, only 16.5% of the total NBC Predictor lead base was a direct first-time bettor opportunity for PointsBet. However, that number has now jumped to approximately 26% following the launch of both New York and Pennsylvania, and will continue to grow even higher over the calendar year. Turning to slide 20. As just mentioned, Super Bowl was an exciting day for PointsBet. We were the first-ever sports betting operator to integrate into Super Bowl programming, including pre-game segments, NBC ticker integration with a viewership in the tens of millions.
This was complemented by purchased adjacent ad spots in key live U.S. states and led to record activity on the game. From a tech and product perspective, as can be seen in the table on this slide, using New Jersey as an example, PointsBet offered the most in-play and game day markets on the game. System and automated trading models seamlessly processed the high volumes, with 99.9% of bets placed within one second and circa 90% of all bets placed within 250 milliseconds. Having an easy-to-use and instant bet placement function while maintaining trading margins delivers a great client experience. Turning to slide 23. Industry analysts keep increasing the estimated size of the U.S. sports betting GGR TAM opportunity.
As we launch new states in 2022, our coverage of the U.S. population, and with that, our TAM opportunity continues to grow considerably. We've seen some estimates point to an online sports betting TAM at maturity of $42 billion, and on top of that, $18 billion for iGaming. We would note that horse racing is not commonly included in U.S. TAM estimates. However, from the Australian experience, we do think there is future upside in this category to be realized in the U.S., hence why we bought BetPTC, a U.S. advanced deposit horse wagering business last year. In addition, we are progressing our plans for a fixed odds racing launch.
With the recent launch in Pennsylvania, the ten states PointsBet is currently live in represents a total target population of 72 million people with an approximate sports book TAM of $13 billion at maturity. Adding in near term launches of Ontario, Louisiana, Tennessee, Maryland, and Ohio represents a further target population of 37 million and an additional $4.7 billion sports book TAM opportunity. Turning to slide 25. From day one, we have said that product will ultimately win. The entire product experience will be the differentiator between those operators who succeed and those who do not. With a one-team global approach across North America, Europe, and Australasia, we can leverage learnings from around the world for key product developments into Australia, the U.S., and Canadian markets.
Importantly, owning our 100% proprietary in-house platform allows us to customize and localize these products to suit the local jurisdictions. As noted in the last market update, in November, we were thrilled to deliver our first major in-play product upgrade following the acquisition of Banach Technology, now known as PointsBet Europe. The impact on our NFL KPIs has been impressive and provides huge encouragement regarding the path we are on. In-play handle was up 44% post the upgrade. NBA has also been upgraded and college basketball is imminent. Sports betting is the product that is leading the expansion of online betting across the U.S.A. To win market share and deliver success in the U.S. market will require excellence in sports betting product and execution.
As sports betting is legalized across the U.S., we anticipate that 75% of all online bets will be placed in play, that is, once a match has already started. PointsBet's new in-play same game parlay has proven popular with our clients, and providing them with the opportunity to place these bets during a game is a further example of how PointsBet is hitting its stride, leveraging the capabilities of our proprietary technology and models. Turning to slide 26. As noted earlier, we were thrilled that our U.S. app was ranked second of 34 in the latest Eilers & Krejcik app-by-app testing with an overall score of 17.3, positioned just behind FanDuel with a score of 17.6 and ahead of all other U.S. operators.
The matrix consists of five scoring categories that reflect the most important aspects of acquiring and retaining customers, as well as maximizing time and spend on the app. Pleasingly, we improved from 4th at the last review with improvements in the areas of live streaming and data visualization with our cash out option receiving particularly high praise from the judges. PointsBet's 100% owned tech stack is customized for the North American market and is a huge asset to the company and puts us in a truly unique position. I'm excited about the additional improvements slated for H2 and beyond. We already have a market-leading product. However, we see great opportunities to further distinguish ourselves from our opposition. Turning to slide 29. Our people are our greatest asset, and in August, PointsBet announced the creation of a U.S. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
The committee will include a minimum of three PointsBet employees, as well as four independent external senior advisors with deep experience and expertise in the world of sport. The committee is tasked with steering the PointsBet management team on diversity initiatives, ensuring PointsBet recruits and retains a diverse and inclusive workforce, creates an environment for employees to be at their best, and ensures that the PointsBet workforce reflects the communities it operates in. Slide 31. Before concluding, I want to make some brief comments on New York. We've deliberately taken a more disciplined approach than some of our competitors, but despite this, have seen some very promising results when compared to other state launches. True market shares will only be known once competitive churn from promotions washes through, but PointsBet is off to a promising start.
One call-out is the popularity of our proprietary and unique PointsBetting product, with the financially savvy New York market significantly over-indexing on this product versus other states. Also, deposits from first-time depositors in New York are on average three times higher than in other live states. As can be seen on this slide, the company continues to put the building blocks required to succeed in place, and it has been another half of significant progress in this regard. Australia continues to go from strength to strength. Canada is on the verge of an exciting hard launch, which will leverage our global capabilities with a brilliant local strategy, and the U.S. is now gaining scale, being live in 10 states. As it relates to North America, PointsBet has positioned itself as an indispensable, significant player in the market.
We have a market-leading product and modern tech stack that is fully proprietary, customized for North America and hugely valuable. One only needs to see what has been paid for much lesser platforms to appreciate the strategic value of what we have built. We are the long-term official sports betting partner of NBC, providing us access to significant strategic value in the critical area of marketing. The way NBC have embraced a growing level of integrations into their live sports coverage demonstrates the positive value add our analysis, data and personalities can bring to a live coverage and where the two parties can take this relationship. We have live operations in hard-to-access states such as New York, Illinois and Pennsylvania. We have a best-in-class team that, together with our platform, is scaling across an ever-increasing TAM.
Those operators that own their technology and can execute a national strategy will be the operators that can maximize profit margins and maximize this huge North American opportunity. Happy to take questions.
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one on your telephone. To withdraw your question, press the pound or hash key. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from Rohan Sundram from MST Financial. Please ask your question.
Thanks. Hi, Sam and team. A couple from me. Firstly, on the U.S., and given the pace of legislation and new state launches and your efforts on the ground, has your confidence in being able to get to 19 North American states by the end of the year increased? Or maybe how good is your line of sight into that, given what you said earlier in the call as well?
I think there's a pretty good line of sight, Rohan. I mean, I think I mentioned Ontario, Louisiana, Tennessee, Maryland and Ohio. You're starting to get up there. There's a small state like Wyoming that's available to be launched into whenever we want to schedule that. I think, you know, it is subject to maybe some states like Massachusetts. No, we're confident. Let's say 17 U.S. states plus Ontario, I think would be our, you know, the current expectation.
Okay. Thanks, Sam. The second one is just more of a general one. Given all that's going on in equities markets, the sector's valuations have derated so significantly across the board. Just keen to hear your thoughts on how, in any way, could this affect your strategy or how you're thinking about cash flow and balance sheet management as well going forward?
I mean, I think, you know, we've as we said in the script, you know, we called out from NFL season that advertising and promotions we believed had got too aggressive. You know, we expected that some of the results that our competitors would see from that period would be reasonably challenging and ugly. We've seen some competitors exit the market. We've seen some competitors talk about that they will be, you know, significantly reducing their spend. You know, through that period, we've maintained the same disciplined approach. You know, we didn't get caught up in that.
We would expect that as they pull back, you know, and we continue with the same disciplined approach, that our effectiveness of our marketing investment can only be stronger. You know, I think in terms of the market overall, you know, we can only control what we can control. Not since, let's call it, the market volatility has hit in the last five months, you know, we've launched three massive markets. We've seen our app improve from a rankings perspective. We've led the market with innovations. Yeah, we're really looking forward to the next stage of, you know, hard launching in jurisdictions like Ontario.
You know, from a cash perspective, you know, we do have AUD 500 million of corporate cash as at the end of December. I can tell you the board and the management team are really comfortable where we sit. We've got levers to pull if we want to, but right now, you know, we're very confident with the cash runway that we have.
Okay. Thanks, Sam.
Our next question comes from Larry Gandler from Credit Suisse. Please ask your question.
Hey, Sam. Hi, Andrew. I've got a similar question to Rohan. You know, you said during the preso, the strategy is we think product will win. My question is, what if you're wrong? You know, you've got a time window and a capital sort of resource to work with that's finite. I'm not making an accusation by saying you are wrong. I'm saying, what if you're wrong? Can you pivot? Are you working to pivot? We just need to look at a few consumer products industries. Take the wine industry, for example. Oftentimes, the best-tasting wine is not the biggest brand. You've got the best product. That Eilers & Krejcik commendation was fantastic and exemplary of the great work you guys are doing. What if it's not product? What if you need another dimension?
Yeah. No, no, Larry, I think, look, it's, you know, product ultimately wins, but there are other factors that obviously are important. You know, we've talked about brand recognition. We don't have the brand that some of our competitors have, and we don't have the database that some of those have. So those factors are not insignificant. We've never said that they were. History, you know, would tell you that some consumers will gravitate to the best product. It's not just us saying that within the sector. I mean, if you listen to DraftKings, I think they use exactly the same line, FanDuel and others all use that line. I mean, it's been proven in Australia, it's been proven in Europe, you know, products will ultimately win out.
That doesn't mean we don't have to overcome the fact that we don't have the brand of our competitors. We've never shied away from that. You know, in a market where operators were giving away sort of $3,000-dollar free bets, it's not hard to get your head around the fact that that's gonna be very attractive to the average person, and that might be where they go first. Obviously, once that's no longer available, they work through that. Ultimately, consumers will end up at the product that gives them the best service. You know, the second part, you know, around cash. As I just said, you know, we're very confident in the cash runway that we've got.
You know, we expect that our product-led strategy, and I think most in the industry expect that a product-led strategy is gonna gain increasing momentum through calendar 2022.
Okay. I guess one area I was exploring with that is, if there are these other dimensions where maybe product is super important but not necessarily the entire end game, are you exploring any avenues to maybe bring brand into the PointsBet sort of partnership network?
I think we're looking to close that gap ourselves, Larry. You know, this is why we're spending money, some portion of our marketing budget on national assets. You know, obviously, at the moment, we can monetize those in 10 states. You know, we've got the Predictor database, and I often try and use a regional example here. You know, if Texas goes live for sports betting, let's say 2023-2024, you know, it's gonna be a completely different trajectory for PointsBet as it has been launching, let's call it all the states that we've launched up until now. One, we will be on the starting line. We will have that market-leading product. We'll have a database in the hundreds of thousands from the Predictor app.
You know, it's one thing to have a, let's call it tens of thousands of leads from Predictor when you enter Virginia, you know, many months after your opposition, 'cause those 20,000 or however many leads that you've got have already opened an account with one of your competitors. If you're on the starting line and you have that database, and you have a brand that has some recognition because you've been investing in it to grow it, so, you know, our ability to close the gap from a brand and database perspective, we are working on it.
Yeah.
I think our strategy is sound.
Okay, Sam. No, thanks for answering that, and we'll discuss afterwards. Appreciate it.
Thanks, Larry.
Your next question comes from Joe Stauff from SIG. Please ask your question.
Thanks very much. Good morning. I wanted to ask a couple questions just on trends, in particular in the U.S. and then maybe Australia. You know, the Super Bowl was a favorable event for the bookmakers in general with respect to sports yield, and I was wondering how overall February was just in terms of sports yield or hold for you guys.
I'd probably point you, Joe, to obviously the state reports to see, you know, to see what the industry is doing. I mean, I'd put it this way, I haven't noticed that our yields are particularly strong or particularly weak compared to our longer-term trends.
Okay, you know, as you launched in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, especially prior to the Super Bowl, you know, I guess, what did you see with respect to, you know, say, user acquisition and/or activity, you know, subsequent to those launches, especially during the Super Bowl and maybe the couple weeks after?
Yeah. I mean, we did even though we weren't on the starting line in Virginia or Pennsylvania. New York, we're only a couple of weeks behind, and as I said, the next priority is definitely to ensure that for all new jurisdictions in Ontario, we are on that starting line. We did have the ability to sort of warm up those states. You know, we were, as I've said before, we were investing in the Washington, D.C. RSN, the Philly RSN, the SNY. So we did get off to strong starts. There's no doubt that our starts in those states have been stronger than what they were historically, and we would expect them to be because we had been doing some investing to ensure that that was the case. When it comes to Super Bowl, exactly the same.
You know, you would expect our activity to be record. It was. It was a pleasing day.
For Canada, you know, you had mentioned you were the first or one of the first licensed commercial operators. I'm wondering what you expect in Canada in terms of launches. Will it follow a sequence maybe like New York, where a couple go at a time, you know, maybe there is some edge for you to be in the first cohort that launches? Do you guys know at this point?
No, we don't know at this point. We do know that there's only, I think, three that have been awarded licenses under the new process. You know, I'd expect the likes of FanDuel and others I think have come out and said that they're, you know, planning on getting licensed and being there. But obviously, until they receive that license, you just don't know if they'll be on the starting line. I think, you know, we wanna get off to a fast start in Ontario. As I've sort of been saying, this is a great opportunity for us to demonstrate everything that we've built. The product is now elite. We now have scale as a business. We've got a great strategy on the ground in Ontario.
This is our first opportunity to hard launch, you know. You know, we always talk about the fact that in most states where, you know, we've been a share of wallet booking because every client we've obtained, we've had to win it off MGM, FanDuel, DraftKings, et cetera. Here's an opportunity for us to get you know clients first onto our platform. Once they go onto our platform, even if they do go to take advantage of offers elsewhere, and that's one thing about the Canadian Ontario market. There's a tighter promotions environment, which suits PointsBet. You know, the fact that some of our competitors can't go and throw huge free bets around, it will be a more product-led market, which is fantastic for us.
All of those factors mean, you know, we're really looking forward to this. We're gonna have iGaming and sports betting live on the same day. You know, our progress to date in North America and the U.S. markets, there has been an element of catch-up. You know, we were a smaller player coming into that marketplace, and now we've grown, and one of the results of that was, you know, we've been catching up on these states. For Ontario, Maryland, Ohio, and other new states, there's only upside to come because we've got the product, we've got the team now, and we've got databases and marketing strategies to really hit the ground running. Yeah, the environment in Ontario is still a bit of clarity to come, exactly who will be there.
We'll be hitting the ground fast from the first minute.
Thanks, Sam.
Your next question comes from Sacha Krien from Evans & Partners. Please ask your question.
Good morning, Sam and Andy.
Good day.
I just had a question on marketing spend, first of all, in terms of the outlook. You've given a bit of guidance there that you think it's gonna be marginally higher in the second half. I mean, how should we think about it going into next year, given you're gonna be in a bunch more states? I mean, should we expect a natural evolution of that continues to grow?
Yeah. I think from a U.S. perspective or North American perspective, we've always said as new markets launch, we will market into those states. As a general rule, marketing is going to increase as we expand our total addressable market. Sacha, I think for the half upcoming, you know, we were able to give a little bit of a guide there because Australia is gonna spend less. I think there was maybe a view, you know, I just wanted to clarify, I suppose, because we were already spending in Philly, in Washington, D.C., in New York through those RSNs, that spending goes from being, let's call it, out of state to interstate. You automatically get the benefit without there necessarily being an increase in marketing expense.
The H2 group marketing, as Andy said, will only be marginally higher than H1.
Yep. Got it. New York, so some good early metrics there. I mean, can you maybe give a bit of color on how you're approaching promos in that market given the higher tax rates? Secondly, is it having any impact on your New Jersey customer base launching in New York?
Yeah. I mean, I think we were pretty clear. You know, we had the opportunity, one of the benefits of being a couple of weeks behind everyone else. We could see what was going on in that market in terms of the level of promotions and free bets, and so that made our choice a little bit easier just not to take that head on, you know. You know, we wanna invest in that state. I think, you know, one of the things about New York, and I note even this afternoon, there's been legislation introduced into New York for online casino with a tax rate of 25%.
I think that that's got a long way to go, but everyone can see that a New York market with a sports tax rate of 51% on its own is very different from a New York market with a sports tax rate of 51% and an iGaming market of 25%. You've always got to have a view, you know, with these U.S. states as to not just what, you know, the current dynamics are, but potentially what the future dynamics are. That's the same for states like Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, that you know have probably a decent opportunity at some point in the next couple of years introducing iGaming. Look, our strategy into New York was more disciplined than our competitors. But we're you know really happy with what we see.
In terms of New Jersey, we have seen a bit of cannibalization. Nothing too much. Again, with Pennsylvania now having launched, what we were really keen to see was the dynamic of having the tri-state covered, getting the benefits of Pennsylvania, New York, and the Philly RSN, the benefits of New Jersey, New York, and the SNY Regional Sports Network. I think it's. I don't think many would dispute that the operators that are in both New York and New Jersey, and then separately, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, you know, have an advantage. It's the same, you know, it's the same for those operators that are gonna be scaled across the country. They're the operators that are gonna win.
If you're not in and you're not able to monetize those key markets, yeah, you're probably not gonna be there long term.
Yep. Got a couple more. Just in terms of Canada, great, you're on the starting line, and there's sort of increasing analysis around how important it is to be there early. What sort of differences are you gonna make in Ontario if they allow gray market operators to compete in the market? I mean, is that the current status quo?
Well, it's unclear. That's the reality. It's unsure. I mean, the two main ones are bet365 and bwin. It's unclear because there could be a scenario whereby if they get licensed in Ontario, and let's call it are a you know fully regulated operator, they may have to turn off their operations in the other parts of Canada. There's a trade-off potentially there for them. That's why it's a little bit difficult to give hard guidance on our expectations in Ontario, other than the fact that we'd expect to outperform pretty much any other state that we've you know gone into in terms of the short-term, 'cause we're gonna be ready and be on the starting line.
Yeah, with that competitive environment, you can imagine if bet365 are there legally, that bwin's there legally, that can make a different dynamic to the market. It's a bit of a wait and see.
Last question, sort of high level one. In terms of your cost base, you know, other OpEx, including sales and marketing, I mean, at what point do you think you start to approach a scale position there?
Yeah, I think OpEx is a bit of an open question. I mean, I think we want to continue to invest in product and tech stuff. We've been clear on that. Away from that, you know, we are getting to a pretty scale position. You know, I think that's promising, you know, from that regard. You know, obviously, as we launch more jurisdictions, we get the synergies of those costs being spread across those new jurisdictions. I think from a tech and product, we wanna keep investing. That's our right to win. We see the opportunity for further acceleration in some key areas. We wanna get them through as quickly as possible but from a wider team perspective, yeah, we are approaching some level of scale.
Okay, great. Thank you.
Your next question comes from Phil Chippindale from Ord Minnett. Please ask your question.
Thanks, Sam and Andy. First question, just more in terms of the Australian business. You've obviously got a—you're pointing to a significant decrease in marketing spend in the second half versus the first half. If we go back to FY 2021, there was actually an increase into that second half. How should we be sort of thinking about that? Did you sort of significantly and deliberately front-end load your marketing expenses this year? And then I suppose a follow-on to that is, you know, is part of that decrease in marketing spend a reflection of perhaps, you know, the competitive market here in Australia?
Yeah. Go, Phil. Yeah, I mean, I think there's two factors that I think of there. One, we got Shaquille O'Neal started as a brand ambassador in March 2021. You know, that obviously was a huge coup for us. You know, we think the ads were fantastic, and we've been pressing them hard from that March period through to the end of Spring Carnival, basically. The other thing is, you know, when it comes to comparing periods to periods going forward, you know, it's hard with the COVID impacts and cycling through different sets of numbers, so we need to keep that in mind.
I think the main thing is Shaq, and we wanted to make the most of that, and we'll be looking to introduce, you know, let's call it a new brand campaign through the middle of this year for Australia. It's definitely not a reflection of competition. I mean, you know, the reality is that for the level of resources that we had, we had most of them pointed to North America. You know, we've been building things like iGaming, in-play sports betting, and the progress that we've made in Australia has been without a whole lot of love in terms of proportion of resources.
That's one thing that now that we've got some scale, and we can allocate more resources to Australia, you know, we are looking to hire an Australian CEO who again can bring some extra focus to this opportunity. You know, we see great opportunity. You know, we think our product is good in Australia, but there's so much more that we can deliver. And again, with a global team, we can leverage you know innovation around our different markets. No, we're definitely not worried about any competition in Australia, where we think we've with some extra focus, we can continue our strong results.
Okay, great. Just wanted to turn to iGaming for a moment then. You're obviously live in a few states now. Can you give us an assessment of how that rollout's gone against your own expectations? Obviously, with a few key states coming up as well. Yeah, just love a bit of maybe an assessment of how you think you've gone so far there.
Yeah, I think again, it's a bit similar to the sports betting side in that when you make a choice to build something yourself, and we made the choice to put the time into that platform so that for the long term, you know, we have the right strategy, you know, that we control our tech and we're, you know, gonna maximize margins, which obviously are important. It takes time. You know, that's the reality. We embarked on that path. It takes time, but we're getting through it. You know, in previous 4C presentations, we've shown some slides about the progress and the roadmap that we have for that product. There's no doubt that is. You know, that's when you compare us to our opposition in the U.S., most of their revenue is in iGaming.
That's where we've, you know, been a little bit one arm tied behind the back. You know, if you think about a Caesars and an MGM, they have those casino-centric databases, so they were always gonna be strong in those spaces. As I make the point, you know, the fact that we're just, you know, warming into our iGaming strategy in those states, and we're a bit behind, you know, that is what it is. You know, thinking about all the states that are launching, you know, whether it's New York and Virginia and Ohio and Maryland and all the U.S. states that are going, they're gonna be sports betting led. You know, our strategy obviously is to build our brand, build the database, be on the starting line of all of these new states.
I mean, if we have a blended market share in the 4s, and we've never been near a starting line and had to win all our clients from our competitors, there's only upside to come. You know, if we're on the starting line with a brand, with a database, once people use our product, then they're not going to someone else. That's the reality. We've just gotta get to them first and hold on to them, even if they go away for a little while to take advantage of a promotion. iGaming is definitely an area of significant upside. It'll be better, you know, as each month goes by.
That by the time states like New York, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa are legalizing iGaming, you know, our product will be tickety-boo, you know, right up there.
Okay, thanks. I'll let someone else ask you a question.
Your next question comes from Alex Wallace from Polymer Capital. Please ask your question.
Hi, Sam team. I got on the call a little bit late, so sorry if you've covered off on this, but I just wanna talk about the NBC partnership. You know, obviously they're on your register as well, and there's been a lot of concern in the market around your marketing spend. You know, it seems like the U.S. business is getting discounted pretty aggressively, given the obvious value in the Australian business. I'm wondering whether there's any opportunities to do something savvy in terms of expanding that partnership. Obviously you have decent prepayment assets on the balance sheet already, but I'm wondering whether you could possibly assuage market concerns around the cash bleed on marketing, leveraging that position on your register as well.
Yeah. I think, look, you know, as recently as in the last few days, you know, I speak to very senior NBC executives, and I can't tell you how much praise they have for the PointsBet business. You know, how much they enjoy working with us, how committed they are to the opportunity in the space. You know, they see, you know, ESPN and Fox and others that wanna get into this space. You know, we've structured a deal which is mutually beneficial for both parties. It's for the long term. They have equity upside, they have the optionality, and, you know, we have a deal that increases over time. As we're in more states, then obviously the partnership gets deeper in terms of the amount of investment that we make with them.
You know, I don't quite get why anyone would doubt how important a strategic relationship that is and how we're going to lean into it more and more. You know, being the first operator to have integrations into the Super Bowl, tens of millions of people, we've just been talking about growing a brand and a database. You know, that's the sort of thing that has us up on an upward trajectory. To your point, is there more that we can do? Is expansion opportunities? Yes, yes. You know, with the attitude that NBC have and how committed they are to PointsBet in the space, of course, you know, we wanna work together with them. That's part of our priorities for 2022 for sure.
Okay, thanks though.
Your next question comes from Joseph Koh from Schroders. Please ask your question.
Thanks for that. Just a question about your comment that board and management are comfortable with the current cash position for PointsBet. I guess looking at the current cash burn rate, you might have maybe a couple of years left in terms of adequacy for your cash balance. I'm just wondering, does that kind of suggest that you guys think that you'll be able to get to cash flow neutral or generative by the time the cash runs out, or do you have other plans in terms of other sources of capital?
Good day, Joseph. I don't think we've ever said that there may not be a need for future capital. You know, but I think there's a big focus in the market at the moment. Current market conditions, that's obviously as I said front of mind for everyone. You know, and board and management are confident in the cash that we have. You know, but that's not saying that at some point in the future we won't require more capital.
Right. What do you mean when you say that you guys are comfortable with the cash and but you may need to obviously raise more capital? I'm just trying to understand what that means. I guess if equity markets are actually open to capital at a reasonable price, how do you think-
Yeah.
-about the way you run your operations in that sort of environment?
Yeah. I mean, I think everyone has equity markets not being open right at the moment, but whether that's the case-
Sure.
In 12 months, 9-24 months' time, to your point, you know, is a question. But I think we've got flexibility. We're always nimble. If there's a need, if equity markets are looking poor at certain points in time, there's levers that we can pull. You know, we've got AUD 500 million on the balance sheet. We value that greatly and, you know, we'll make sure that we take a disciplined approach.
Okay. Is that my calculation right, about two years, in terms of cash burn rate?
Yes, yeah.
Do you think that's too conservative or too aggressive?
No, we've never provided guidance. There's too many assumptions or variables that all influence that date, so
Right.
Yeah.
Okay, thanks.
All right. Since there are no further questions, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now all disconnect.