A rival gambling company has accused Australian sportsbook Betr of relying on a minuscule number of VIP gamblers to generate over half of its revenue.
According to PointsBet, another sports betting company trying to fend off an unsolicited takeover by its Australian rival, Betr used just 20 VIP gamblers to generate over half its net win in January 2025.
The company should not be confused with the Miami-based Betr, a gambling app backed by influencer Jake Paul and the NBA’s Lonzo Ball. They are separate companies, and the Australian Betr does not operate in the U.S.
PointsBet Criticizes Betr’s Business
In a July 24 filing with the Australian Stock Exchange, PointsBet wrote:
“Betr has a less valuable and volatile VIP-heavy customer base – a high concentration of Betr’s net win is dependent on a very limited number of Betr VIP customers (e.g., in January 2025, more than 50% of Betr’s net win was generated from only 20 customers).”
The Guardian reported that Betr had roughly 150,000 active customers as of April 2025.
Based on the alleged figure, just 0.01% of active Betr gamblers generated over half of its revenue in January 2025.
The news site also reported that both companies declined comment on the VIP gambling spend:
They “declined to clarify whether the January 2025 figures cited by PointsBet were representative of Betr’s longer term financial and operational position. PointsBet declined to state whether the January figures were an outlier.”
What We Know About ‘VIP’ Gambling
Although it’s an allegation, the information from PointsBet is helpful. It contributes to our understanding of how a small percentage of users generates the bulk of gambling industry revenue.
Let’s briefly look at some other examples:
- A 2024 Connecticut study found that over 70% of legal gambling revenue is generated by fewer than 7% of residents classified as problem (1.8%) or “at-risk” gamblers (4.9%).
- A 2014 study on how the Pareto distribution applies to internet gambling found that between 4.6% and 17.8% of players accounted for 80% of gambling revenue.
- According to the World Health Organization, people gambling at harmful levels, online and in person, generate around 60% of global gambling losses.
And, of course, we have plenty of anecdotes about VIP gambler harm. We usually hear about these cases through lawsuits against online betting operators.
For example, in July 2025, DraftKings settled with a Pennsylvania psychiatrist who said she lost about $190,000.
In April 2023, a Michigan bettor’s losses on a single platform were nearly double what the sportsbook won from everyone else in the state during the month.
VIP gamblers are usually out of luck in lawsuits against betting sites. A rare exception was a 2025 ruling in Sweden, where a gambling operator was ordered to return his losses.
Betr Sportsbook VIP Fallout: What’s Next?
The global gambling industry relies on addiction. Without problem gambling, the industry would be a shell of its current self, if it could even be called an industry at all.
People often call gambling the hidden addiction, partly because of the shame associated with it.
One way to reduce gambling addiction stigma is greater awareness of where the money comes from. In other words, which people drive the growth of these companies.
Gambling app makers design their products to be “habit-forming,” a euphemism for addictive.
Developers of brick-and-mortar casinos also build them to fuel addiction.
For online gambling, deposit limits are one way policymakers can curb the exploitation of people struggling with problem gambling. These limits could deal a crushing blow to the VIP gambler model.
The SAFE Bet Act in the U.S. seeks to establish deposit limits for online sports betting. In a recent Spanish study, researchers found that deposit limits can be effective in harm reduction.
Some policymakers, in states such as Illinois and New York, are also examining the use of artificial intelligence to target problem gamblers with bets and promotions.
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