Flutter Entertainment is now the world’s largest gambling company and has just announced massively improved figures for 2020.
The numbers here are striking. Flutter reported revenues of £4.4bn in 2020, an increase of 106% – more than double – over the previous year’s figures.
The results released this week are for the calendar year to 31st December 2020. The company also reported adjusted group EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of £889m, another doubling-plus with a 109% increase.
Profits for the year were £1m. A big chunk of money – £432m – has been accounted as non-cash acquisition accounting adjustments.
The group says it has “excellent momentum”. There has been a 19% growth in recreational players. Customers have been shifting from the company’s real-world bricks and mortar premises to online gambling at ever greater speeds.
And things continue to look good for the company, with a 36% year-on-year increase in just the first seven weeks of 2021.
There have been some losses as a result of the closure of many bookmakers because of Covid 19 lockdowns and restrictions.
The company’s chief executive is Peter Jackson, and he said: “We delivered a very strong financial performance in 2020, benefiting from our scale and diversification. We continue to grow our recreational player base across all key regions, in quarter four alone the Group had over 7.6m monthly online players.”
He added that the safety of Flutter group’s staff was the first priority while closures continue, but despite restrictions, “we look forward to the future with confidence.”
Who are Flutter?
They are the world’s biggest gambling company and they count among their brands:
- Paddy Power, an enormous online and retail gambling business that includes massive sports betting and casino sites.
- Betfair is a sports betting exchange.
- Fanduel is a US “fantasy sports” betting site.
- FOXBet is another sports betting site. Sportsbet is too. TVG is a TV channel showing horseracing in the US.
- Adjarabet is based in Georgia.
- PokerStars is the largest poker site in the world. Full Tilt is another poker giant.
- The company’s main brand in the UK is Sky Betting and Gaming, which includes Sky Bet, Sky Vegas, Sky Casino, Sky Poker, and Sky Bingo.
- The company also has Australian sites, Oddschecker, and a financial risk business.
Flutter has profited massively from the liberalisation in the UK gambling market since 2005’s Gambling Act. And now it is moving into an American market that looks like it is going down the same road.
In the UK there is a chance that the regulatory outlook will change as a major government review on gambling laws is due to be implemented in 2022.
Flutter are big players in a number of markets and has just made a £.4.8million donation to grassroots sports in the UK.
They have grown organically, but also by acquisition, including last year’s purchase of The Stars Group, the owners of Poker Stars, FoxBet, and Full Tilt, in a deal worth $11billion.
It seems unlikely that there will be any change to this upward trajectory for Flutter though, particularly if US regulatory reform goes ahead.
