Flutter’s steep US growth trajectory continues in first quarter

Flutter Entertainment CEO Peter Jackson says 'US listing will have absolutely no bearing at all on our Dublin headquarters'

John Mulligan

Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment expects Kentucky to be the next state to loosen the reins on sports betting, joining a swathe of other states that have legalised the gambling format.

Flutter chief executive Peter Jackson said he expects that North Carolina will follow suit next year, as the group’s US-based FanDuel business continues to post strong growth and remains on track to achieve profitability this year.

Mr Jackson was speaking as Flutter revealed a strong first-quarter performance across its global businesses. In the United States, where FanDuel users in 19 states can now wager sports bets, the group continued to dominate the fledgling sector.

It added 1.5 million users in the United States during the first three months of 2023 compared with the first quarter of last year.

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That brought its average monthly users there to just under 3.5 million at the end of March.

Flutters’s revenue in the US jumped 92pc to £908m (€1.02bn). Group revenue climbed 46pc on a constant currency basis to £2.4bn.

“We anticipate that by 2030, the vast majority of the US population will be able to bet on sports,” said Mr Jackson. He added that in the US, sports gamblers typically wager more than those in other territories, including Ireland and the UK.

Flutter secured shareholder approval last month to list its shares in the US, in a move that the company believes will heighten brand awareness there and give retail investors – who are also often FanDuel players – an opportunity to bet on Flutter’s own future performance.

“One of the benefits of acquiring an additional US listing would be that in time, we can then choose to switch our primary listing if we wanted,” said Mr Jackson.

He pointed out that Flutter employs more people in Ireland than Microsoft and that the gambling firm has no intention of moving its headquarters from Dublin.

“Acquiring a US listing will have absolutely no bearing at all on our Dublin headquarters,” he said.

“We are continuing to see a very strong performance in the States,” he added.

Flutter said that new launches in Ohio and Massachusetts drove a 20pc increase in the total number of new players, and that FanDuel is the top operator in both states.

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