Flutter Entertainment Sees Financial Loss After Dutch Market Exit

Flutter Entertainment have announced it is temporarily withdrawing from the newly regulated iGaming market of the Netherlands, which could mount up a total of £10 million in expenses.

Flutter Entertainment are sports betting and iGaming giants in Ireland and the UK, and are involved with some of the top online casinos around. It was formerly known as Paddy Power Betfair before its decision to rebrand at the beginning of 2020. It owns some of the stand-out names in the sports betting and casino industry such as Betfair.com, PaddyPower.com and PokerStars.com.

The firm included the news in its third-quarter trading update, which detailed that the expenses could rise to up to £40 million by 2022. This could still be the case even if the country’s Kansppelautorireit (KSA) regulator has granted it a license by the end of next year.

The firm is predicting that this license will in fact be granted and this will lead it to breaking even. Flutter Entertainment have maintained its leadership of the iGaming market in the United States according to Peter Jackson, the Chief Executive Officer. It saw its revenue in the US market increase by 85% with a figure of £280 million. Jackson stated that 94% of this rise stemmed from the company's majority stake in US sports betting company FanDuel Group.

Closer to home, Jackson detailed the firm's performance in Ireland and the UK, stating it had ‘delivered strong recreational growth’. He also announced over all revenues have declined by 5% due to drops in sports betting receipts and stakes.

You can read a statement from the Chief Executive Officer below:

“While a run of customer-friendly results in October have resulted in win margins being below expected levels in the quarter to date, the underlying strength of our business is clear. We have grown our online recreational player base by 46% in just two years and with more international jurisdictions and American states on the path to regulation, we look forward to sustainably growing our global player base further in 2022.”