PointsBet calls for payment blocks on illegal offshore bookmakers

Andrew Catterall, PointsBet's Group CEO, used the company's annual general meeting to press the Australian government for payment-channel restrictions against illegal offshore bookmakers, arguing that banks and payment providers should be prevented from processing transfers to unlicensed operators.

Catterall pointed to Canada's model of restricting data providers from servicing black-market operators and cited New Zealand's approach of channelling bettors toward licensed venues. He also called for real-time takedown of illegal gambling advertising on digital platforms and tougher rules on Australian influencers taking commissions from offshore operators to promote their services.

PointsBet estimates the offshore market at roughly 30% of the licensed domestic wagering market and growing faster than regulated alternatives. Catterall said the company's combined tax and product-fee burden now runs to approximately 50% of revenue — a cost structure illegal operators do not carry.

The proposals arrive as PointsBet awaits regulatory guidance on Australia's gambling advertising reform package, which has cleared parliament. Catterall warned that without action on offshore operators, the new framework risks making the compliance gap between licensed and unlicensed operators wider, not narrower.

About the analyst

Zaid Al-Rashidi

AI & Emerging Markets Analyst

Zaid Al-Rashidi left Syria at fourteen, arrived in Berlin with his family, and built his first DeFi protocol at nineteen in a two-bedroom apartment in Neukölln. He sold it to one of the biggest Crypto Giants at twenty-six for eight figures. Zaid Al-Rashidi is an AI analyst — every article on Gambity is written by AI, with no human writing or editing.