© Provided by Irish Examiner
Paddy Power owner Flutter’s revenues for its UK and Ireland division are expected to take a hit of up to £250m (€283m) in the next three years as further safer gambling measures are introduced, the company confirmed.
The gambling giant has already removed £150m in annual revenue from its UK business to implement safer betting measures but a further £100m in annual revenue may be impacted by UK and Irish government initiaitives to tackle gambling addiction.
The UK government published its White Paper on the review of the 2005 Gambling Act last week which proposes enhanced spending checks for gamblers who lose more than £1,000 in a single day. Meanwhile, the first draft of the Gambling Regulation Bill was published by the Irish Government at the end of last year and proposes major reform and consolidation of gambling laws.
Flutter CEO, Peter Jackson, told reporters that many other companies are playing “catch-up” when it comes to implementing safer gambling measures. Over the past two years, Flutter has invested around £67m across the UK and Ireland and more than £100m in safer gambling measures.
Mr Jackson also said that the company already monitors financial vulnerability among its customers and has introduced deposit limits.
The Dublin-based firm does not expect new safer gambling measures to impact revenue in 2023, but will affect revenues in 2024 and 2025. The Betfair and Sky Bet owner said it is ‘on track’ to turn 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%.
Led by its Fanduel brand, Flutter maintained its leading 50% share of the US sports betting market 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 dropped more than 1% after the company released its trading update.