Thomas Lyons 
Flutter, the owner of Paddy Power, has confirmed that it expects to see a hit of up to £250m (€283m) in revenue for its UK and Ireland division over the next three years as further measures to promote safer gambling are introduced. The company has already removed £150m in annual revenue from its UK business to implement safer betting measures, but it is expected that a further £100m in annual revenue may be affected by UK and Irish government initiatives to tackle gambling addiction. The UK government recently published its White Paper on the review of the 2005 Gambling Act, which proposes enhanced spending checks for gamblers who lose more than £1,000 in a single day, while the Irish government published the first draft of the Gambling Regulation Bill at the end of last year, which proposes major reform and consolidation of gambling laws.
Flutter CEO, Peter Jackson, stated that many other companies are playing “catch-up” when it comes to implementing safer gambling measures and that the company has invested around £67m across the UK and Ireland over the past two years, with more than £100m invested in safer gambling measures. The Dublin-based firm already monitors financial vulnerability among its customers and has introduced deposit limits. However, it is expected that new safer gambling measures will impact revenues in 2024 and 2025, but not in 2023. Flutter is “on track” to turn a profit this year, as it saw revenues jump in the March quarter, despite increased regulation around gambling coming down the pipeline.
Flutter grew revenues to more than €2.7bn, up 54% on the previous year, as it gained 1.5 million new betting customers in the US, its main market. Its pro forma revenues were also up by 29%. The company maintained its leading 50% share of the US sports betting market, led by its Fanduel brand, and increased its slice of the iGaming market to 23% from 21% three months earlier. The company’s US division recorded a 92% growth in revenue.
In Ireland and the UK, Flutter saw its retail business increase 17% year-on-year as people continued to return to the bookies post-covid. This was driven mainly by activity among customers in the UK. Flutter previously closed 15 bet shops across Ireland during the pandemic, but indicated there would be no extra closures in the short term as Mr Jackson said “we are pleased with how things are”.
Shares in Flutter dropped more than 1% after the company released its trading update.
