Betfair owner expects US profits to treble as it plots London stock market exit

Betfair owner, Flutter Entertainment, expects to triple US profits this year as it prepares to shift its primary listing from London to the New York stock exchange.

A surge in American sports betting has driven a growth in earnings across the Atlantic, with US revenues expected to top $700m (£554m) in 2024, up from $235m last year.

February’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers has already increased momentum at Flutter, as US revenues rose 56pc in the first 11 weeks of the year.

Flutter, formerly known as Paddy Power Betfair, has become the leading beneficiary of many US states choosing to make sports betting legal.

So far a total of 38 states have legalised sports betting since the Supreme Court overturned a federal ban in 2018.

Its FanDuel brand has become the largest sports gambling group in the country and is now a regulator fixture on TV advertising slots and social media.

Chief executive Peter Jackson said the US had “transformed” the group’s profile, with the recent boom in earnings demonstrating the “strength and size” of its business stateside.

Flutter became a high-profile loss for the Square Mile after it was lured stateside earlier this year, as its shares first traded on the NYSE on Jan 29.

The group is now poised to move its primary listing from London to New York once shareholders have approved the measure at a vote scheduled for May 1.

In January, the company said the US was the “optimal location” for its primary stock market listing.

Mr Jackson said its secondary listing would remain in London after feedback from shareholders.

He said: “We’ve got lots of shareholders who can only hold UK or European shares so they’ve told us it’s important for us to maintain our secondary listing in London.”

For the group as a whole, revenues for the year ending December 2023 rose 24pc to $11.8bn.

The group made a statutory net loss of $1.2bn after impairments linked to its PokerStars franchise and other accounting charges.

In the UK, Flutter had a mixed Cheltenham Festival, with the first two days swinging in punters’ favour before the company moved back into the black on the final two days.

Around 2.5 million customers placed bets over the festival through Flutter’s main Paddy Power, Sky Bet and Betfair brands.