We Are All Gamblers Now, From Sports to Crypto
FanDuel owner Flutter shows how our smartphone is a 24/7 betting shop, broker and casino combined. Can regulators keep up?
Giddyup? More like slow down.
Photographer: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images EuropeCongratulations to whoever won a bet on the World Cup via Paddy Power or FanDuel last year: You weren’t alone. Parent group Flutter Entertainment Plc took a £40 million ($47.7 million) hit from so-called “customer-friendly” sports results in December. Chief Executive Officer Peter Jackson said he watched the spectacular six-goal final through his hands — “it was a very expensive event for us.”
There were other customer-friendly developments in Flutter’s 2022 financial results, which triggered an investor-unfriendly fall in its shares. The company estimates it spent £150 million worth of annualized sales on safer gambling measures in the UK and Ireland, where the company imposed a £500 deposit limit for players under 25. The unwinding of the Covid-19 boom also hurt performance in Australia.