Revenues up 25% as online betting firm’s US business scales
Flutter Entertainment’s yearly revenues to the end of December rose to $11.8bn (£9.3bn), up 25% on 2022, the firm announced today.
The firm booked a $1.2bn (£950m) loss, partly due to a trademark infringement of its PokerStars brand in the US, which caused a $725m (£573m) impairment, partly due to amortisation of acquired intangibles by $791m (£625m) and also due to a $165m (£130m) fair value change on its Fox Option liability. Further adjusted EBITDA rose by 45% to £1.9bn (£1.5bn).
US revenues were up 41%, and saw its first year of positive adjusted EBITDA, as its US operations scaled rapidly, adding a further 3.7m customers. The frim listed on the New York Stock Exchange at the end of January.
Chief executive Peter Jackson said, “Flutter delivered a strong 2023 performance as we continued to deliver on our strategy. This was underpinned by a localised approach to technology and product coupled with the unique scale advantages of the Flutter Edge. As anticipated, our number one position in the US has transformed the group’s earnings profile during 2023 as FanDuel delivered a positive US full year adjusted EBITDA for the first time.
“Outside of the US we made excellent progress integrating Sisal into our International business, a business which is a great example of our ‘local hero’ strategy at work, and took market share in UKI. We also made further progress on our sustainability strategy with an increase in Play Well safer gambling tool usage, investment of over $100m in our global safer gambling initiatives including key marketing campaigns in the US with our FanDuel ambassadors to promote responsible play during the year.
“I was proud to see Flutter shares trading for the first time on the NYSE on January 29, 2024 and we have been encouraged by the increased focus from new US investors as a result of our US listing. We are working towards a shareholder vote on May 1, 2024 to approve our primary listing move to NYSE.”
Moving forward, Jackson said, “The year has started well with very good momentum continuing into Q1. Record Super Bowl engagement contributed to US revenue growth of 55.6% for the period from January 1, 2024 to March 17, 2024. We also launched in North Carolina where we have been really pleased with performance to date.
“Outside of the US, revenue grew 6.3% as the market driven decline in Australia was more than offset by the growth of our UKI and other International businesses. We believe that our strategy and competitive advantages position us well to continue to grow the business through both organic and inorganic opportunities.”
