Revenues climb at listed sports betting business
Sports betting giant Flutter Entertainment has reported total revenues of more than £1.4bn for quarter three 2021, up 12% year-on-year.
Announcing its trading update for the three months ended 30 September 2021, the business – which owns Leeds-based Sky Betting and Gaming – says group online revenue is up 13%.
Outlining developments in its UK and Ireland operation, Flutter says it delivered strong recreational customer growth with a 19% increase in average monthly players.
Revenue in UK and Ireland declined by 5% in quarter three with sports down 8% and gaming 2% higher.
The company’s retail estates across the UK and Ireland were fully open for the period with a total revenue decline of 6% year-on-year. Sports revenue declined 11% with half of this due to reduced margin while gaming was up 6%.
Flutter’s update notes: “As we continue to monitor the impact that Covid has had on our shops, it is worth noting that our quarter three UK retail revenues were 9% above quarter three 2019 levels whereas revenue in Ireland was down 27%.
“We believe this primarily reflects the slower relaxation of Covid restrictions in Ireland. As a result, overall retail revenues were around 90% of 2019 levels.”
Peter Jackson, chief executive, said: “Flutter delivered a strong third quarter performance, with double-digit growth in our global player base.
“This resulted in the Group delivering revenue growth of 12% despite challenging comparatives including a concentration of key sporting events in the prior year.
“Across our business we continue to lead on customer protection and we recently announced measures to enhance the protection of younger customers in the UK & Ireland as part of our risk based ‘Triple Step’ approach to affordability.
“While a run of customer-friendly results in October have resulted in win margins being below expected levels in the quarter to date, the underlying strength of our business is clear; we have grown our online recreational player base by 46% in just two years.
“With more international jurisdictions and US states on the path to regulation, we look forward to sustainably growing our global player base further in 2022.”
