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This doesn't seem like the type of loss a company that specializes in micro bets can brush off that easily. Then again it's also tough to imagine a site that bills itself as a micro betting sportsbook as one that would ever come close to losing $72M.
Micro betting allows gamblers to wager on individual moments in a game in real-time for very small amounts of money.
Mr. McLoughlin broke down the Betr situation in Australia via his LinkedIn page.
"Launching in October last year, at coincidentally the same time as the American Betr, the disrupting brand wanted to make a splash.
"So they offered Australian customers the most generous promo in years."
According to McLoughlin that involved 5 futures markets at 100-1 odds with a maximum bet of $10 each. The horse racing promo was listed at 20-1 for $10 that should have been a pick'em.
"With the World Cup, Brazil were heavy favorites and attracted most of the tickets, but Argentina would have been a 10-15M liability."
The Melbourne Cup winner was 30-1 on the day.
"No one had that ticket at Betr, with all of the money on the two favourites. One of which didn't even run in the race. An amazing result for the sportsbook."
In regard to the NBA Championship, McLoughlin writes "I can't imagine more than a couple hundred tickets on the Nuggets at 25-1. All the action would have been on the Bucks & Celtics."
With the AFL Premiership Collingwood beat Brisbane in a classic Grand Final, which even featured a 6'11 American on the winning side.
"The Magpies were on the third round of betting when the season started & have the biggest fan base in the country. My forecast is they cost 15M+
"So at this point, the bookmaker has got a couple of scratches, but they're well in front. The brand generated incredible attention last year - considerably more than any launching sportsbook ever has."
And then the big one...
The NRL Premiership in which the Penrith Panthers were 3-1 at the start of the season, chasing their third successive premiership.
And their odds barely wavered all year, going into the Grand Final as strong favourites.
"They were up 8-0 and it looked like playing out to script. But then the Brisbane Broncos, who started the season at 17-1, stole the momentum, and what looked like the game. 24 straight points for a 24-8 lead.
"Betr looked to have dodged the ultimate bullet, their nastiest liability.
But as my first sentence disclosed, the nightmare result hit.
"Penrith snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. And cost betr 72M+!"
McLoughlin expressed what went wrong.
"The biggest criticism of the promos from me is they never needed to be that generous in the first place. Similar to the Caesars launch in NY. The Betr promos could have been 20-1 or 25-1.
"If the offers are too great, you get an overwhelming amount of sibling/spouse/parent accounts that have no long term value.
"However, Betr nearly pulled off an acquisition heist. If only the Broncos held on."
He notes that sports betting pioneer Matt Tripp said that they had already generated $225M in profit (gross, not net) from these users already.
"I'm hoping Betr can now settle all these markets and incentivise the enormous database to turn their funds over as opposed to withdraw and vanish. They have great weekly promos, a crisp brand and a talented team. Plus it's peak horse racing season.
"I love that Betr were bold and tried to shake up the oligopoly here. I hope they continue to."
Though none of this is entirely reassuring to us here at Gambling911.com.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
