FanDuel’s parent starts trading in the US as the online sports-betting market balloons
Just in time for the Super Bowl… FanDuel owner Flutter Entertainment got a new home team. Flutter, one of the world’s biggest sports-betting companies, listed on the NYSE yesterday in its US market debut. The Dublin-based biz owns global betting brands like Betfair, Paddy Power, PokerStars, and Sportsbet. (FYI: the gambling giant is also listed on the London Stock Exchange, where it IPO’d in 2019.)
New arena: Flutter execs say the US is a “natural home.” FanDuel is the US’s online sports-betting leader with 40%+ market share. Now its trading in the States alongside #1 rival DraftKings.
High stakes: FanDuel and DraftKings control ~70% of the US online sports-betting market. While rivals like MGM and Caesars are smaller players, competition is heating up.
Sports gambling’s big W… Betting on sports has boomed in the US ever since the Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on it in 2018. The American Gaming Association projected that sports betting topped $100B last year. With mobile sports gambling now legal in over half of states, big players have gone all in with star-studded endorsements. DraftKings tapped celebs like Kevin Hart, Ludacris, and Tony Hawk for its Super Bowl ad last year.
A bigger field can fit more players… US sports betting has taken off, but it’s still illegal in California and Texas, the two most populous states. It means there could still be a long runway for growth, and not just for the likes of FanDuel and DraftKings: casino owner Penn Entertainment and its new ESPN-branded sportsbook aim to make up 20% of the US sports-betting market by 2027.