Flutter beats expectations as revenues rise by 27% in quarter

Strong demand for sports betting in the US at the start of the National Football League season helped Flutter Entertainment surpass analyst expectations to report 27 per cent quarterly sales growth.
The world’s largest online betting company, which moved its primary listing from London to New York this year, recorded revenue of $3.25 billion for the three months to the end of September, up from $2.56 billion a year earlier and ahead of analyst expectations of $3.03 billion. Revenue in the US rose 51 per cent year-on-year to $1.25 billion. In the UK and Ireland, revenue grew 18 per cent to $846 million.
The revenue growth helped reduce Flutter’s net loss to $114 million in the third quarter, from a loss of $262 million a year earlier.
Flutter, once known as Paddy Power Betfair, is behind betting brands including Betfair, FanDuel, Paddy Power and Sportsbet.
The company raised its full-year guidance for the second successive quarter after its non-US brands drove better than expected third quarter revenue growth. It raised its revenue outlook by 1 per cent to forecast full-year revenue of 22 per cent. Flutter expects full-year adjusted earnings before deductions to rise by 35 per cent.
The company said average monthly players in the US grew 28 per cent to 3.2 million in the quarter. Across the business, average monthly players rose 16 per cent to 12.9 million.
Flutter has shifted its focus to America since 2018, when a US Supreme Court judgment struck down an act banning sports betting everywhere except Nevada. The decision now falls to state legislators, and sports bets are legal in 38 states.
Peter Jackson, Flutter’s chief executive, said: “In the US, we had a fantastic start to the new NFL season with peak wagers per minute already higher than Super Bowl LVII. Our proprietary product offering continued to drive strong parlay penetration as well as a step up in live betting handle.”
The shares, which have risen 42 per cent since the start of the year, advanced $9.81, or 4 per cent, to $257.98 in after-hours trading.