Rise and rise of US market signals shifting focus for sports betting giant

Just as bookmaker reaction to a performance on the racecourse can surprise, so can the stock market's response to a results announcement.

Flutter Entertainment's annual figures released on Thursday appeared to show a strong performance in 2022, and analysts seemed to be impressed, but the company's share price finished down by 5.63 per cent.

What the results showed was the strength of Flutter not just in the UK and Ireland, where it operates Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet, but across the world. Sportsbet, Flutter's Australian arm, has more than 48 per cent of the online sports betting market there, while last year Flutter purchased the biggest operator in the huge Italian market in the shape of Sisal.