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Betr will pay out $72 million to punters who took up the online bookmaker\u2019s 100-1 offer for Penrith to prevail in the NRL grand final, but customers face a delay before collecting their winnings.<\/p>\n
About 320,000 clients signed up directly as a result of the 100-1 offers the agency made on NRL, AFL, NBA, FIFA World Cup and Melbourne Cup markets, which were capped at $10. Most of the money taken was wagered on the Panthers to win the NRL decider, with the total promotional payout expected to be the largest in Australian history.<\/p>\n
However, Betr has emerged as the big winner from its bold gamble, as it has already tripled its return from those punters.<\/p>\n
The bookmaker who launched Betr, Storm chairman and co-owner Matt Tripp, said the firm will emerge well in front after hedging its bets via lay-off wagers and early payouts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe important thing to note, with that launch campaign, we had always anticipated it would cost us somewhere between $50 million and $80 million, depending on how the results fell,\u201d Tripp said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut from the 320,000 customers we have acquired through running that campaign, the gross profit we have generated from those customers alone is $225 million.<\/p>\n
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It won\u2019t just be the Panthers celebrating if they win a third straight grand final on Sunday.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cYou still have to pay your taxes on gross profit and there is some generosity attached to that, but what has been generated in profit from those customers is almost three times what those hard costs were.<\/p>\n \u201cTo get 25 per cent brand awareness before you even write one bet in our market, which we got straight away, it costs you $100 million in marketing.<\/p>\n \u201cSo for us to have spent $72 million in hard costs, then probably another $20 million in marketing, we spent just under $100 million to generate more than double that.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is out there saying \u2018Penrith will kill them\u2019, but nothing would make me happier if we\u2019re paying out tens of millions of dollars on Penrith because it gives tens of thousands of punters an opportunity to reinvest at the start of the spring carnival.\u201d<\/p>\n Betr boss Matt Tripp has emerged as the big winner from his 100-1 promotion.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Oscar Colman<\/cite><\/p>\n Because of the ways bets have been hedged, Betr faces a $20 million sting regardless of whether the Panthers or Broncos win at Accor Stadium on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019m cheering for anyone other than the Storm,\u201d Tripp said. \u201cI\u2019m happy just to watch and enjoy it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe financial aspect is negligible on the day because we pay out a similar amount. The result doesn\u2019t really matter.\u201d<\/p>\n However, punters expecting to collect immediately may face a delay. Those still in the running to profit from the AFL or NRL grand final results have been told \u201cit\u2019s going to take some time\u201d before the money is deposited in their accounts. Betr promised it won\u2019t be any later than 5pm on Friday, October 6.<\/p>\n Tripp said it was a processing rather than a cash-flow issue.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cash is there, it\u2019s more a timing thing, the manual labour of actually getting it done,\u201d Tripp said. \u201cBecause we have done so many cash-outs, we have to do them all manually. Hopefully, it will be quicker than Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the Broncos win, it will take less time because there are less bets to resolve manually.\u201d<\/p>\n The 100-1 promotion was controversial, however. Betr was fined a record $210,000 in April for splashing the 100-1 offer in affiliated News Corp newspapers, radio and television stations.<\/p>\n Tripp has been the boss of several betting agencies, but has never seen returns as quickly as his Betr business.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been an unbelievable campaign in the sense we had to do something to capture the hearts and minds of the Australian punter in a very crowded market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone wants to back a 100-1 winner and we thought this was an opportunity to really set ourselves apart from the pack. Yes, we knew it was going to cost us $100 million and we were all up for that, it was just a matter of what we could generate off the back of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch the NRL grand final exclusive, live and free on Channel 9 and <\/i><\/b>9Now<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Sports news, results and expert commentary. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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