Betr’s ‘inflection point’: Product and World Cup boosts deliver five-year high

Bookmaker betr has reported its first positive operating cash flow quarter since 2021, describing the $2.6 million figure over the final quarter of the 2025/26 financial year as an inflection point for the publicly listed business.

While the World Cup has helped drive the improved outcomes, including a massive spike in the use of same game multis, betr said cost reductions, improved customer economics and stronger net win growth had enabled it to make significant progress.

The year-on-year net win growth of 9.3 per cent, jumping to $43.9 million, was achieved despite quarterly turnover growing only 1.2 per cent from $399.5 million to $404.3 million.

With 156,479 active customers, that led to a 22 per cent growth in revenue per client compared to the same quarter last year.

Chief executive Andrew Menz highlighted the progress made over the last 12 months as betr focused on what it described as “fundamentals of the business”.

“Our focus was on repositioning and relaunching our brand, improving the customer experience and building differentiated product capabilities that would resonate with our target customer segments,” he told an investors’ call.

“Those investments required upfront expenditure and execution discipline and after completing much of that investment earlier in the year we are pleased to report the second half has delivered on the guidance and the objectives that we set out.”

Among the initiatives was the integration of Sky Racing onto the betting platform with Menz confirming that around one in two racing customers were engaging with the streaming service and more than 90 per cent of users were betting after streaming Sky Racing.  

While Menz pointed to the broader changes made over the past 12 months, the World Cup certainly provided a sugar-hit for the bookmaker, with strong ongoing engagement since that point.

Its quarterly report said product improvements ahead of the World Cup helped drive a 382 per cent increase in World Cup same-game multi turnover mix versus 2022, while July trading has begun strongly with more than 15 per cent turnover growth excluding World Cup activity.

“We’re really excited about what acquisition looked like over the World Cup, and in terms of the customer quality, we’ve had a 40 per cent payback on customers acquired over that period already, and we’re very confident that those customers will be monetised,” Menz said.

“It was certainly a low-cost acquisition opportunity.”

The company said it had benefited from a focus on product over generosity and it was looking to continue that strategy as it targets a normalised FY27 EBITDA of between $13 and $19 million.

Its plans include what was described as a “first-to-market” same-game multi product for both sports and racing to be launched ahead of the AFL and NRL finals and the spring carnival.

“We’re very focused on a highly engaging experience to keep people on the app for longer, and really leveraging all those best-in-class, world-first tech companies outside of our sector. So, watch this space,” Menz said.

Menz also said the move away from generosity-led acquisition and engagement had been driven by the significant cost of generosity, particularly when accounting for product fees and taxes.

The Q4 report also highlighted the company’s recent transition to a Tasmanian gaming licence, which management says better aligns with its long-term strategy.

While the core business has been a focus over the past 12 months, Menz said betr was still looking to be active in the mergers and acquisitions space.

“We continue to assess organic and inorganic opportunities that we believe can strengthen our competitive position or accelerate shareholder value creation,” he said.

“Importantly, the stronger operational foundation we’ve now established and outlined today gives us much greater flexibility and strength to pursue these opportunities in line with our long-term strategic objectives.”