As any observer will have noticed over the past five years, the North American betting sector has been growing at a rapid pace, whilst globally technological innovation is at a peak.

Although the US is a hotbed of talent, with vast commercial centers across the country and renowned tech hubs such as Silicon Valley, the European betting industry is much more established – especially with regard to online innovation. 

PointsBet in the Emerald Isle 

For PointsBet, the Australia-based firm with a strong focus on the US and now Canadian betting scenes, Europe offers a distinct advantage to North America-facing operators due to its large technological talent base. 

Speaking to SBC following the opening of the company’s Dublin office, Graham Ross, PointsBet’s Director of Operations – Europe, explained that the new HQ “allows the company access to a significant pool of available talent, particularly prospective employees with deep experience in the online gambling space in Europe and further afield”.

“With Ireland having a very strong position in both foreign direct investment and the technology space within the EU and Europe as a whole, it’s very clear that there are notable advantages to be gained by basing our operations here,” he remarked.

North American focus with European support

PointsBet remains firmly focused on its stateside activity – Ross underlined that the company has no intention of applying for licenses in any European nation. 

However, the ASX-listed company has had a historic interest in the Old World for technological purposes, having acquired Irish firm Banach Technology to leverage innovative support for US expansion.

Ross states that this will be combined with the group’s deal with SIG Sports Investment – which saw the financial firm invest $65.69m into PointsBet and partner its Neille Analytics subsidiary with the company – to enhance the ‘scale and pace’ in North America. 

“One of the key reasons for the acquisition of Banach Technology was to bring their technical and operational expertise of US Sports in-play markets in-house,” Ross explained.

“The fact that PointsBet has been first with so many new innovative in-play features in the last 12 months is testament to the wisdom of that decision. 

“With the recently announced SIG investment and the exploratory partnership with Nellie Analytics, we are confident that we can add further innovation, scale, and pace to our efforts in this area.”

What next for PointsBet?

Describing the company’s acquisition of Banach as ‘an easy decision’, Ross further noted that the merger had enabled PointsBet to build on its new holdings ‘physical and spiritual legacy’.

Moving forward, the group aims to capitalize on its office in Dublin city center’s Liberties district to add ‘scale and speed’ to its growth aspirations in the US and Canada by attracting ‘the next wave of new PointsBet talent’.

He added: “Off the back of the Banach Technology acquisition in Q2 2021, the ongoing operational focus of the Dublin team remains the development and delivery of cutting edge, best-in-class, in-play betting experiences across the key US Sports markets. 

“Our European HQ already plays a significant role in our US operations and that is only expected to increase as we scale up and add further talent to further reinforce our position as the home of in-play for US Sports.”