The US sports betting industry has become a market worth billions. As a result, an increasing number of British and Irish gambling companies have turned their eyes towards either an entry to the local gambling sector or further expansion of their already existing operations there. On the other hand, the restrictive gambling regulations and policies of the UK authorities have resulted in serious revenue hits for some companies, forcing them to seek expansion outside their domestic market.
Dublin-based gambling group Flutter Entertainment Plc revealed that it started working on the preparation of a secondary listing for its shares in the US. The announcement comes at a time when sports betting is getting more and more popular across the country.
Earlier this week, the board of Flutter Entertainment, which is currently one of the largest gambling groups on a global scale, unveiled the move, saying that making a second listing would help the company boost its market footprint in the US. Apart from that, the Irish gambling operator would be given a chance to deepen its capital access, get bigger access to talent, and operations enhancement, which could eventually result in a primary US listing at a later stage.
Lately, the US has become the biggest market for the company, less than five years after the US Supreme Court made sports betting legal in the country.
Immediate Consultations on the Proposed US Listing with Flutter Entertainment’s Investors Set to Start
In its official February 14th statement, the company’s board of directors revealed that it is set to immediately open a consultation with Flutter Entertainment’s shareholders. If the investors of the gambling group support the proposed secondary US listing of the company, this decision would take precedence over a previously unveiled plan to float only a small asset holding in Flutter’s business in the US – the sports betting and daily fantasy sports operator FanDuel.
According to the company’s board, such a step would create a number of long-term strategic and capital market benefits, with the FanDuel brand now set to become the largest business by revenue of the gambling group, and will get a better proportion of its total value than ever before.
The additional US listing will provide the Irish gambling group with the chance to better exploit the American gambling market’s growth potential. It is exactly the capital and strategic market benefits in the longer term that the company, once known as Paddy Power, pursues in the US, considering the massive potential for further growth of the country’s betting sector.
A listing on the New York Stock Exchange would provide Flutter Entertainment with the chance to recruit American employees, give greater liquidity in the company’s shares, and will guarantee access to domestic US investors. All of this would offer a great base for the Irish gambling group to pursue a primary US listing later.
As mentioned above, the gambling group will start a consultation with its shareholders on the issue right away, and any agreement on the matter will take precedence over some previous listing plans.
- Author
Olivia Cole
