Revenues on the rise at listed sports betting business

Flutter Entertainment, which owns Leeds-based Sky Betting and Gaming, made adjusted pro forma revenue of £3.1bn in the first half of 2021, 30% higher than in H1 2020.

And the business, which has today published its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2021, made a reported profit before tax of £77m (H1 2020: £24m) with adjusted EBITDA growth of 75%.

Flutter, which is the world’s largest gambling business, adds it has achieved a 40% increase in average monthly players.

In retail the company’s shops reopened during quarter two, with June the first full month of trading since September 2020. Revenue in the month was approximately 80% of June 2019 levels.

The business notes it continued to pay all staff costs throughout H1, without reliance on any Government support schemes available.

For the second half of the year, excluding its US operations, Flutter has forecast adjusted EBITDA of between £1,270m – £1,370m, assuming its retail estates remain open throughout the second half.

Peter Jackson, chief executive, said: “The first half of 2021 exceeded our expectations as we made substantial progress against our operational and strategic objectives while maintaining excellent momentum in growing our player base.

“Our global sports businesses benefitted from further enhancements to our products and the return to more normalised sporting calendars while we sustained our strong performance in gaming despite the challenging comparatives set last year.

“In the UK and Ireland, integration is progressing well with our three brands benefiting from shared learnings across product and operations.

“Taking a lead on safer gambling remains a key priority for the Group as we continue investment across our brands and step up our activity to promote safer gambling awareness and tools.

“The second half of the year has started well and we look forward to making further progress in the coming months.”