I looked at BBT some time ago.They used to be profitable before...

I looked at BBT some time ago.

They used to be profitable before becoming a public company but then the board and CEO remuneration created a big drag and I didn't feel there was an aligment with shareholders.
If I discount management I don't look at the company again. I might look into it now again with new management.

The reason to become a public company was to venture to the US, but BBT went late and by then the market was saturated with other players.t he different US states regulations implied that the market was fragmented and one could stablish foothold on some states.

It also happened that the numbers shown before going public was from the covid time, when everyone and their dog was gambling. From then, the cost of adquisition of a new customer went up and the value per customer went down. Also the growth decreased significantly. Probably cost of living and inflation also payed a role here.

Add there the tax changes in Australia. Before every company was registered in the norther territories and they were paying tax for their online revenue there. New changes implied that the tax was to be paid on the state that it was generated, and the tax is on revenue, before costs. And the states point of revenue tax have been increasing to the point that it is hard to be profitable (higher hurdle).
https://www.treasury.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-06/Bluebet%20Submission%20to%20NSW%20Treasury%20POC_Redacted.pdf



Other mental notes:
I believe there's currently unregulated "skill" games in the US that do not count as gambling and have different regulations.

Companies have to proof that their customers are inside the borders of the US states with GPS and that they did their due diligence on wether the GPS was faked or not (There's some kind of certification). Not sure if this is as important in OZ given that here is just a matter of which state to pay tax to instead of wether it is outright banned. I'm assuming (without any proof or basis) that some R&D of bluebet went for this kind of geofencing certifications for the US.