Flutter Entertainment, the group behind the bookmaker Paddy Power, has warned that stricter controls on gambling will dampen growth in the UK and Ireland next year. Online betting will be particularly affected.
In April last year the bookie stopped accepting credit card bets in Ireland and committed itself to ending “whistle to whistle” advertising for sports events broadcast live before the 9pm watershed. In September it said it would cap losses at €500 a month for gamblers under 25.
The company is trying to get ahead of a gambling clampdown due to be imposed by governments in Britain and Ireland next year. This will include a new gambling regulator in Ireland.
Jonathan Hill, chief financial officer at Flutter, said: “What we tried to say to the analysts is that . . . if you were expecting the market to grow in mid-single digits in 2022, you may want to reflect whether that’s going to happen as the operators introduce these measures over the next year. You should probably consider whether any growth is going to come into the market in that 2022 period.
“We’ve tried to lay out a path by which people can assess what sort of growth rates they can expect in the UK and Ireland market — particularly in the UK market — next year, and try to temper those expectations.” Hill added that he welcomed the measures being taken by both governments and looked forward to “a really world-class regulator and gambling act fit for the 21st century”.
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The company’s share price fell but recovered slightly last week after it warned that “unfavourable” sport results and a suspension of its operations in the Netherlands due to changing regulations there would lower its earnings by about £70 million (€82 million) this year.
It said it expected overall earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for this year to be between £1.24 billion and £1.28 billion, down from its previously guided £1.27 billion to £1.37 billion. The group’s online revenues in the UK and Ireland were down by 5 per cent but there was a 19 per cent rise in the number of average monthly players.
Its third quarter retail revenues in the UK were up by 9 per cent but fell by 27 per cent in Ireland. Hill said it was “fully committed” to its Irish retail estate.
