Flutter seizes more than 30% US market share as 2020 player acquisition gains pay off
FanDuel, TVG, PokerStars, and Fox Bet owner achieved player base of 1.5 million in 2020 as user numbers grew 55% during the year
FanDuel’s parent company, Flutter Entertainment, saw its US revenue surge 80% year-on-year (YoY) in 2020 to £695m ($968m), with sports wagering contributing 66% to the overall total.
Sports revenue leapt 101% as the operator’s FanDuel and Fox Bet brands launched in five additional states combined.
However, EBITDA losses for the year reached £170m ($236.6m) as the operator increased its marketing spend by 115% YoY to £348m ($485.6m) to support new state launches and the return of sport in Q3.
Horseracing brand TVG, which enjoyed a record-breaking year, doubled its market share during the 12-month period to 20%.
In its earnings presentation this morning, Flutter said the group’s New Jersey offerings provided a positive contribution of approximately $50m during the 12-month period.
Meanwhile, the online giant estimated it had seized a combined betting and igaming market share of 31% across the States in Q4. FanDuel grabbed 40% and 20% of the sports betting and igaming sectors respectively, the company said.
The FTSE 100 operator also noted that its overall US division achieved 40% more revenue last year compared with its nearest competitor, DraftKings. In fact, its US revenue was greater than that achieved by its closest two rivals combined.
Meanwhile, Flutter’s US userbase grew 55% to 1.5 million from Q1 to Q4, with monthly average players reaching 972,000 throughout the year. Fox Bet’s free-to-play Super 6 game had 4.4 million registered players in 2020, Flutter revealed.
Flutter CEO Peter Jackson said Super Bowl LV was the biggest ever week for player acquisition in FanDuel’s history, as 350,000 sportsbook and igaming customers signed up to the product.
Over one million customers were active across the operator’s mobile sportsbook and igaming apps on Super Bowl Sunday.
Jackson said: “We delivered a very strong financial performance in 2020, benefiting from our scale and diversification. We continue to grow our recreational player base across all key regions, in Q4 alone the group had over 7.6 million monthly online players.
“Nowhere has our growth been more evident than in the US where we have consolidated our number one position in this crucial market, with customer economics that continue to exceed our expectations, finishing the year as the first US online operator to reach over $1.1bn in gross gaming revenue,” he added.
UK analysts Regulus Partners said: “FanDuel now sees a 2025 TAM [total addressable market] of in excess of $25bn, which given £170m of operating losses to generate under £700m of revenue needs to be broadly true – we remain concerned that early state trading patterns are more misleading than clear from this perspective.”
The operator acquired an additional 37.2% stake in FanDuel in December, taking its total stake to 95%.
Flutter’s share price slid 1.77% today on the London Stock Exchange.