Flutter Report Notes Decline in Pari-Mutuel Wagering

Flutter, the parent company of United States sports betting leader FanDuel as well as the advance deposit wagering platform TVG, reports a strong third quarter for sports wagering in the U.S. and weakness in pari-mutuel race wagering. The company didn't offer guidance on how much these two trends might be interrelated as legal sports betting continues to proliferate in the U.S. while racing is largely not offered as a fixed-odds proposition, keeping it off of the major sports betting platforms. Flutter reported a 10% growth in its sports wagering revenue through its U.S. FanDuel division when compared to the third quarter of 2022. It said that since the start of the NFL season through the end of the quarter (Sept. 30), the company enjoyed a 37% spike in acquisition of new players. Flutter chief executive Peter Jackson said that growth helped FanDuel become, "the first (U.S.) online operator to achieve structural profitability." On the other side of the coin, Flutter reported that its U.S. daily fantasy sports and TVG revenue declined 6% on a combined basis. The decline in racing revenue at TVG is in line with overall pari-mutuel wagering trends. In its release on economic trends in the industry, Equibase reported a 6.68% decline in third-quarter handle when compared to the same three months of 2022. For the year (through October), pari-mutuel handle on U.S. races is down 4.7%. The company noted that it has submitted to the SEC an application for listing and that it expects to be added to the New York Stock Exchange in the first quarter of 2024 while being delisted from Euronext Dublin at the same time or shortly prior to the NYSE listing. "We are making good progress towards our U.S. listing, which will bring the group significant benefits from accessing the world's deepest and most liquid capital markets," Jackson said. "Overall, the significant potential for U.S. growth and ability to leverage scale benefits across our diversified portfolio outside of the U.S. underpins our confidence in our significant and sustainable long-term earnings growth potential."