Paddy Power, Betfair And Sky Bet Owners To Merge
Flutter Entertainment, which owns Paddy Power and Betfair, is set to buy The Stars Group, which owns Sky Bet, in a deal which will create the world’s biggest online betting firm.
The all-share, £10bn deal will create a firm that would have seen a combined revenue of £3.8bn last year. Under the agreement, Flutter Entertainment shareholders will own almost 55%, with The Stars Group shareholders owning the remaining 45%.
The two companies claim that the single larger entity would be able to take better advantage of the fledgling US betting market, which has seen UK-based betting companies look to expand into the potentially lucrative new market. The deal between the two would also include a commercial tie-in with the US-based Fox Sports, which is the US betting partner for The Stars Group, as well as FanDuel, owned by Flutter.
Peter Jackson, CEO, Flutter Entertainment said: “The combination represents a great opportunity to deliver a step change in our presence in international markets and ensure we are ideally positioned to take advantage of the exciting opportunity in the US through a media relationship with Fox Sports as well as our development of US sports betting through Flutter’s FanDuel and TSG’s Fox Bet brands. We are committed to these two high-quality brands to drive the growth of the combined group in the US.
“The combination will turbo-charge our existing four-pillar strategy and provide world-class capabilities across sports betting, gaming, daily fantasy sports and poker, as well as greater geographical and product diversification.
Sky Bet is the naming partner of the EFL’s league competitions, the Championship, League One and League Two, while Paddy Power is the shirt sponsor of a host of UK football clubs, including Huddersfield Town and Motherwell – neither of whom will wear the Paddy Power logo on their kits as part of the betting brand’s ‘Save Our Shirt’ campaign.
