Paddy Power's profits to take hit after run of “most customer friendly” results
The bookmaker's profits have taken a hit after a string of customer friendly results stateside.
Paddy Power's profits have taken a massive hit in recent weeks after a string of 'customer friendly' results in US sporting markets.
Flutter, the group that owns and runs Irish bookmaking company Paddy Power, revealed on Tuesday evening that the 2024/2025 NFL American football season has so far been the “most customer friendly” since the launch of online sports betting, with the majority of betting favourites winning their matches.
The group, which also owns Betfair and Skybet, revealed that it had suffered its biggest ever one-day loss on the NFL on December 30, when the Detroit Lions’ beat the San Francisco 49ers in a result that cost the group 74 million US dollars (£59 million).
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The firm warned it expects to see revenues knocked by around 390 million US dollars (£313 million) and underlying earnings by 260 million US dollars (£209 million) between November 12 and December 31 due to the “very unfavourable US sports results”.
It said gross gaming revenue – a key performance measure showing amount wagered less that paid out in winnings – would be around 438 million US dollars (£351 million) lower over the period.
Flutter cut its outlook for the US business in 2024, saying revenues would now be around 370 million dollars (£297 million) lower than the previous guidance of around 5.78 billion dollars (£4.6 billion) and underlying US earnings would be around 205 million dollars (£164 million) lower than the 505 million dollars (£405 million) previously forecast.
Shares in the firm fell 3% in Wednesday morning trading.
Flutter said that across the 2024 NFL season to the end of December, there were 184 winning favourites from first 256 games of season – around 72% – with 77% of favourites winning in the final three months.
It added that games had also been higher-scoring than expected.
But the group said that there was “good momentum” in the UK and Ireland business, with sports results going against customers in the English Premier League.
The group said this meant that outside the US, 2024 revenue and underlying earnings would be around 1% and 2% higher than the mid-points of its previous guidance.
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