Flutter mulls spinning off Fan Duel sports betting brand in US
Paddy Power owned Flutter is mulling spinning off its Fan Duel brand in order to capitalise on the growing US sports betting market.
Over the weekend the FTSE 100 firm confirmed it was looking at listing part of the brand on a US exchange, it was reported.
Having first invested in Fan Duel in 2018, Flutter now owns 95 per cent of the brand.
In a statement, the firm said: “Flutter regularly evaluates its organisational and capital structure to assess how best to position itself to deliver upon the Group’s strategy.
“Options including the listing in the US of a small shareholding in FanDuel are being considered but no decision has been made at this time. Should a decision be made to proceed with a listing in due course, an announcement will be made as appropriate.”
The decision to split it off into an individual company comes as the US increasingly opens up to sports betting.
This year, 19 states, including New York and Texas, will vote on whether to legalise mobile sports betting.
British firms have been quick to capitalise on the growing new market, with rivals such as Entain thanking its US operation BetMGM for rapid growth last year.
Flutter says it its the US market leader for sports betting, with a 40 per cent share of the market last year.
“Our US revenues currently exceed our next two nearest competitors combined,” Flutter said last week.
It said that the entire market could be worth up to £20bn in five years time, the Times reported.