Although they only have live operations in 7 US States, the marketing prowess of bookmaker Pointsbet (ASX: PBH) is in full swing with a huge pipeline of more than 500,000 Americans that are ready to be tapped on the shoulder the moment they secure the relevant regulatory approvals.

It’s that glorious time of the year when all four major US sporting leagues are in season and Pointsbet are capitalising on this through their exclusive content and advertising rights within the NBC Sports Predictor app. 

Using the app, Americans can predict the outcome of NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL matches for a chance to win cash prizes up to $100,000. It’s free for Americans to enter the sports prediction competitions but are then actively targeted by Pointsbet advertising which aims to secure the sports fan as a customer lead for the bookmaker. 

As of 19 October 2021, PointsBet had generated more than 516,000 customer leads from the NBC Sports Predictor app for which they have exclusive advertising access courtesy of the USD $500 million partnership signed with the national broadcaster in August 2020. The same deal also gave NBC a 4.9% equity stake in Pointsbet hence the mutual benefit for customer data sharing between the app and Pointsbet. 

In essence, the cash prize competitions have given PointsBet a platform to incentivise gambling in US States prior to formal sportsbetting legislation being passed. 

And the scary part of that customer leads number? The new NBA season only started on October 20. 

For the quarter ended 30 September 2021, Pointsbet reported total turnover of $979.9m which represented a 42% increase on the previous corresponding quarter. The biggest of this growth came from their American operations which were up 112% to $348.6m. 

US customer growth saw even greater increases with the 185,880 active US customers being 367% more than 12 months ago. Despite only having launched in the US two years ago while individual States are still passing legislation to legalise sports betting, the US operation will soon overtake their Australian homeland where Pointsbet has 222,662 active customers. 

Taking into account those 516,000 prospective US customer leads, it’s likely only a matter of months before their US customer base overtakes their Australian counterpart. 

Alongside the 7 US States that Pointsbet has live operations, they have secured market access partners in 11 others (plus Ontario in Canada) while they are actively participating in the licensing process in Virginia and the behemoth State of New York which will likely be the most lucrative in the United States.