Peter Jackson, chief executive of Dublin-based but New York-listed betting giant Flutter Entertainment, has been chosen as Business Person of the Month for September, an award run in association with Bank of Ireland.
It has been a busy few weeks for the company. The owner of Paddy Power and Betfair announced in recent weeks that it had bought Italian company Snaitech in a deal worth around €2.3 billion, giving it a bigger foothold in the European gaming market. That followed an acquisition in Brazil, where it bought 56 per cent of Betnacional operator NSX Group for €316 million.
If the deals are approved by regulators it will give Flutter top three positions in most of the world’s regulated gambling markets. Flutter already owns Sky Bet, which operates in Ireland and Britain, Sportsbet in Australia and FanDuel in the US, its most important market and where it recently moved its main stock market listing.
There was more good news for shareholders last month. Flutter told investors that it plans to return about €4.5 billion to shareholders over the next few years through share buy-backs.
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Its most recent quarterly figures showed that net profit more than quadrupled to $297 million (€273 million). Revenue increased by 20 per cent to $3.6 billion.
The company is targeting close to €20 billion in group revenues by 2027, cashing in on expected growth in the US as more states legalise sports betting.
