Flutter Sees Double Profit by 2027, Presents $5bn Share Buyback

The leading global betting and gaming company, Flutter Entertainment, is fairly optimistic about the future. 

Namely, the upcoming two years which the online betting company believes will bring it around $5 billion, which is more than double this year’s core profit expected to reach $2.5 billion. 

The bold projections were made on Wednesday when Flutter also revealed that it had given the green light to a share buyback of up to $5 billion that will be deployed in the upcoming three to four years following the Q3 earnings in November.

Half the Money Will Come from the US Market

The giant that recently acquired Playtech’s consumer arm in a major move that further strengthened its plans to expand believes close to 50% of the core profit growth will originate in the constantly evolving US market. 

The group projects the total US market to go up to $63 billion by the year 2030 compared to the $40 billion that was forecast in 2022.

The growth in the US is occurring at a much faster pace than originally anticipated by the only gambling operator to be added to the TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2024 list, mostly as a result of the gambling boom the country is currently witnessing.

This has helped Flutter’s iconic FanDuel brand to turn into the market leader once sports betting was no longer banned starting in 2018.

Treble Profit Projected in Operational US States 

Looking at the US states that are currently hosting its operations, Flutter believes its core profit there will increase threefold, reaching $2.5 billion in 2027 from the $680 million to $800 million forecast for 2024 and the $167 million reported last year. 

The latter was the group’s first full year of profitability after many long years of heavy investment.

As a result of the fresh announcement made ahead of an investor day in New York, the Irish group’s shares for the London business went up 5.2% at 12:30 GMT.

Elsewhere in the world, Flutter’s market-leading brands which include Betfair and Paddy Power in the UK and Sportsbet in Australia are expected to also record growth and reach approximately $3 billion, with support from fresh acquisitions in Brazil where the group paid around $350 million to acquire a 56% stake in NSX Group, and Snaitech’s acquisition in Italy for $2.3 billion.

At the start of the month, we reported that leading research firm Morningstar had recently highlighted the flexibility and strength of FanDuel’s parent and global gaming. 

The recognition is particularly important given the ongoing FanDuel – DraftKings duopoly estimated to hold between 70% and 80% of the online sports betting sector in the US.