Flutter Entertainment has announced preliminary results for 2021, showing revenue up 37 per cent after the May 2020 combination with The Stars Group.
EBITDA was six per cent lower, reflecting increased US investment and regulatory impacts in international. Peter Jackson, chief executive, commented: "2021 was another strong year for the group as we made good progress against our strategic objectives and grew our recreational customer base to over 7.6 million customers.
"Yesterday we launched our new sustainability strategy, our Positive Impact Plan, which will see Flutter set a positive agenda for future change. Through this strategy we will build on the significant progress already made in areas such as safer gambling and measure our performance against defined goals to demonstrate how we are responsible leaders in our industry.
"In the US, we delivered over $1.9bn in revenue, leveraging our differentiated product proposition to remain the number one sportsbook in the market with a 40 per cent share.
"Despite our scale we retain a challenger mindset; this year we launched a number of new features to our market-leading same game parlay product, maintaining our competitive advantage in sports.
"I'm also pleased to see the progress on our path towards profitability; FanDuel sportsbook and gaming business delivered positive contribution in 2021 for the first time, a significant milestone for the brand.
"In the UK and Ireland, we stepped up our safer gambling efforts and increased protections for our customers ahead of anticipated regulatory change. We also welcomed Tombola, the UK's leading recreational bingo brand, to the group in early January.
"In Australia, Sportsbet delivered another strong performance demonstrating once again the benefits of securing a gold medal position in our key markets.
"In international, investments made since acquiring PokerStars have put it on a more sustainable footing and while this has resulted in reduced profitability, the necessary foundations for future growth are now in place.
"Notwithstanding regulatory changes in Germany, Netherlands and elsewhere, we saw good momentum across key markets such as Brazil, Canada and Georgia. In addition, the announcement of our acquisition of Sisal will further enhance both the quality and shape of our international division.
"Overall, I am pleased with the progress we have made during 2021 and believe Flutter is exceptionally well positioned for future growth."
