Paddy Power Placed on Backburner in Favor of FanDuel, KY Sports Betting Before Football
Flutter Entertainment, the parent company of FanDuel, Paddy Power, Fox Bet and PokerStars, will continue to focus more heavily on FanDuel and at the expense of once powerful brands in the online gambling space, Paddy Power and PokerStars. There have already been rumors circulating over the months that Fox Bet will be phased out. That hasn't happened just yet.
Flutter is in advanced talks to name John Bryant as its next chairman, Sky News has reported.
From that article:
"...gambling giant behind Paddy Power is lining up a US-based businessman as its next chairman - a move that will further cement plans to abandon its presence on the London stock market".
Despite extensive lobbying by the UK government, Flutter Entertainment is looking to go public on the New York Stock Exchange, thus ditching its London listing where it currently trades as FLTR.
The £26bn company company says it anticipates the US-based operation becoming its "largest business by revenue and an ever-greater proportion of its overall value".
Flutter says the move would allow it access to more capital and the ability to better retain American talent.
Shareholders will vote on the proposal this month, although the company has said "early feedback has been supportive".
Say what you will about their antics (think double-amputee Oscar Pistorius murder trial 'Money Off If He Walks' ad during the Oscars complete with a Pistorius statuette), Paddy Power played a pivotal role in the evolution of sports betting marketing over the last two decades. Bad taste? Yes. Brilliant? Very much so.
Kentucky Hopes to Have Sports Betting in Place Before 2023 Football Season
The commonwealth of Kentucky approved sports betting the final day of March and now hopes to have regulations in place before September. This would allow for mobile bets to be offered ahead of the college football season.
Both Kentucky and Louisville are expected to have winning seasons in 2023 while the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers finished the 2022 season wtih a 9-5 straight up record.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear expressed his desire to have sports betting up and running by the start of the season.
“The people are really excited about this, so we want to get it up and going as quickly as we can but also to do it right,” Beshear said at his weekly news conference Friday.
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission will oversee regulation of sports betting operations in the commonwealth.
In setting up its system, Kentucky will examine the “best practices” used in other states with established sporting betting operations, the governor said.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
