Flutter Entertainment settles Kentucky legal dispute

Flutter Entertainment said on Wednesday that a legal dispute with the Commonwealth of Kentucky has now been settled in full, as it updated investors on its Australian division, Sportsbet.

The dispute relates to the original award of damages made in 2015 against The Stars Group, which was acquired by Flutter for $6bn in 2019. Flutter said it has agreed to pay $200m to the Commonwealth of Kentucky in addition to the $100m previously forfeited to settle the dispute.

In a separate statement, Flutter said Sportsbet achieved an online sports betting market share of more than 50% in the first half of 2021.

Flutter said the online sports betting market continues to grow strongly in Australia, having generated compound annual growth of 21% over the last five years. Sports betting still only accounts for 17% of the total Australian gambling market today.

It said the business has a highly recreational player base with growing disposable income, which should support future growth across its existing player base.

Chief executive Peter Jackson said: "We believe that the Sportsbet case study highlights how a market leader in our industry, with a clear strategy that puts product innovation and customer entertainment at the heart of what it does, can consistently deliver market share gains.

"Sportsbet's success also underlines how being the scale operator in a local market with access to Flutter Group capabilities can enable it to respond well to the inevitable changes that occur across regulatory and tax landscapes over time. This results in growing market share and profitability as competitors find it more difficult to adjust to such changes."

At 0810 BST, the shares were up 4.9% at 16,010p.