Flutter-Stars Group Merger Rocks Industry and Will Impact Sports Betting in the US.
Inside Gaming: Flutter-Stars Group Merger to Impact U.S. Sports Betting
The biggest industry-related news this week involved the blockbuster merger of Flutter Entertainment and The Stars Group to form a new United Kingdom-based online gambling company valued at more than £10 billion ($11 billion USD).
While the deal requires other steps including regulatory approvals to be completed — likely at some point after the middle of 2020 — many are nonetheless already speculating about the significant impact the new company will have upon the industry worldwide.
According to The Financial Times, the newly-combined company will have more than 13 million customers in more than 100 different markets. In particular, the merger will have a significant impact on the fast-growing sports betting industry in the United States.
Beside owning PokerStars and Sky Betting & Gaming, in May The Stars Group joined forces with Fox Bet with an eye toward the U.S. market.
Meanwhile Flutter — the rebranded name of the company formed by the earlier Paddy Power-Betfair merger — had already acquired FanDuel last year
Flutter-Stars Group Merger means that among other ramifications, the new company will assuredly have a signficant edge over others vying for the U.S. sports betting market.
As analyst Michael Mitchell told FT, the United States “will be a highly concentrated market with only three or four players at that top table. Flutter now owns two of those top four.” Mitchell lists Bet365 and DraftKings as the other two, while other players like William Hill, TheScore, and Bet.Works will be among the (likely distant) chase pack.
