The parent company of one of the biggest online sports betting sites in the U.S. says the strength of that bookmaking business may merit a stateside stock listing.
Flutter Entertainment PLC, FanDuel’s majority owner, announced Tuesday that its board is leaning towards floating some of the company's shares on a stock exchange in the United States, such as the Nasdaq. Shares of Dublin-based Flutter are currently listed on the London Stock Exchange and the Irish Stock Exchange.
The success of FanDuel in the U.S. is driving the idea of a stock listing in the country. The bookmaker had a 42% share of the U.S. online sports betting market as of the end of September, according to Flutter, and it is coming off a huge Super Bowl Sunday during which it took a record 50,000 wagers per minute at its peak.
Trending that way
At an investor day in November, Flutter projected the FanDuel brand would generate around $3 billion in net gaming revenue for 2022, 66% of which would be tied to legal sports betting.
Flutter, which also owns gaming brands such as Paddy Power and PokerStars, noted that it “highlighted the growing importance of FanDuel” to the company during its event in New York.
“This trend is expected to continue, with FanDuel becoming the Group's largest business by revenue and an ever-greater proportion of its overall value,” Flutter said in Tuesday's press release. “In this context, the Board has reached a preliminary view that an additional US listing of Flutter's ordinary shares will yield a number of long-term strategic and capital market benefits.”
IPO could be DOA
Those benefits, Flutter says, would include boosting its profile in the U.S., allowing for better recruitment and retention of U.S. talent, and enabling the company to tap into a new pipeline of capital and investors. Flutter would also have the option to pursue a primary listing in the U.S., which it noted is one of the criteria for inclusion in "important" U.S. stock indices.
But before it takes the plunge, Flutter’s board plans to “consult extensively,” and will do so immediately. Still, if it were to move forward, it could put any hopes of an initial public offering of shares for FanDuel alone on ice. That had been speculated about for some time.
“In the event that there is broad shareholder support for an additional US listing, this would take precedence over any plans to list a small shareholding in FanDuel,” Flutter said Tuesday. “The results of the consultation will be announced in due course.”
