Paddy Power owner scores $470m Super Bowl boost

Flutter Entertainment has hailed a bumper start to the year following record ‘customer engagement’ during the latest Super Bowl.

It follows the Paddy Power owner’s decision to switch its primary listing to the US, where the group is cashing-in on dramatic growth after a relaxation of the gambling laws across the country. 

Flutter’s US FanDuel business had three million punters bet $470million on the National Football League’s championship game, which saw the Kansas City Chiefs denied a third straight Super Bowl after losing 40-22 to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Although the company, which also owns Betfair and PokerStars, said the event was offset by ‘customer-friendly’ sports results in January, it noted that ‘2025 had still started well’.

The total money wagered by its bettors – known as ‘handle’ – in the US was higher compared to the fourth quarter of last year.

In the final three months of 2024, Flutter’s revenue rose by 14 per cent year-on-year to $3.8billion as the number of average monthly players soared by more than 1 million to 14.6 million.

US sales increased by 14 per cent as FanDuel remained the country’s largest sports betting operator and became the top online gaming business.

At the same time, turnover in the UK and Ireland climbed by a fifth to $963million, thanks to favourable sports results in the English Premier League and Paddy Power’s sponsorship of the World Darts Championship.

As a result, Flutter’s annual revenue soared by 19 per cent to over $14billion, while its adjusted earnings before nasties expanded by 26 per cent to over $2.3billion.

Its net income also swung from a $1.2billion loss the previous year to a $162million profit.

Flutter anticipates its core earnings rising by over a third to $3.2billion this year, with earnings in the American states it entered before 2022 nearly trebling to around $1.4billion.

Peter Jackson, chief executive of Flutter, said: ‘I am proud of the progress we made during 2024 as we delivered against our strategic priorities and enhanced our leadership positions.’

Flutter Entertainment shares were 0.1 per cent lower at £205.30 on late Wednesday afternoon, although they have still gained around 23 per cent over the past year and 150 per cent in the last five years.

US primary listing switch looks like its paying off  

Many analysts have partly attributed the strong share price growth to the company recently switching its primary stock market listing from the FTSE 100 to Wall Street.

Construction materials supplier CRH, pharmaceutical firm Indivior, and packaging group Smurfit Kappa have all transferred their primary listing to New York in the past couple of years.

London-listed businesses are often motivated to make the move to try and secure higher valuations and access deeper capital pools.

Before Flutter made its change, Jackson said the Dublin-based firm’s ‘natural home’ for a listing was in the US, where it derives around 40 per cent of its total revenue.

Sports betting’s popularity in America has taken off ever since the US Supreme Court overturned a federal law in 2018 banning the activity in all but a few states.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said the stateside switch ‘is already reaping rewards [for Flutter], with the institutional buying bump leaving the share price performance significantly higher than rival Entain.’