“ There’ s still M & A happening to some extent along the fringes of the industry. [ Although ] it’ s hard to imagine Entain buying Evoke”
US markets are rising, in response to some of the actions being made by President Trump, And the online gaming sector is unlikely to be impacted by incoming tariffs, so it will remain buoyant against other sectors, which may be harder hit. iGaming giant Flutter moved its primary listing from Euronext Dublin to the NYSE in January, but the group
maintains a secondary listing in London. In Flutter’ s case, the move made sense to leverage and further support its burgeoning FanDuel business, which in 2024 accounted for 41 % of total group revenue. In making this move, Flutter showed it was all in on the US opportunity, and the operator subsequently absorbed its core UK and Ireland business into the wider international arm.
“ If you have a reasonable US exposure, then it makes sense to list on the US market nowadays … particularly if you view yourself as a high growth or tech company, the US market tends to value these a lot higher than the UK market,” says H2 Gaming Capital Managing Director Ed Birkin.
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Jones expects Flutter is eyeing an entry onto a prominent US index, like the S & P 500. Despite a broadly positive response to Flutter’ s move, equity analysts warned the company in March against its“ overreliance” on the US. iGaming and sports betting growth in the market has slowed as fewer states have gone online in the last year. No new iGaming states are expected to launch this year.
In response to Flutter’ s 2024 earnings, analysts Regulus Partners said in a note that the operator’ s increasing focus on the US“ as the only recognised growth driver for the group” would likely add to the risk of black-market growth in Europe.
“ There’ s still M & A happening to some extent along the fringes of the industry. [ Although ] it’ s hard to imagine Entain buying Evoke”
Ivor Jones, Peel Hunt
“ Organic growth will need to be topped up with good returns on investment of their strong free cash flow – and you’ d assume they can get better returns on strategic M & A than they can with share buybacks,” H2 Gambling Capital’ s Birkin added.
Elsewhere, reports in May suggested UK-based private gaming group Bet365 was either eyeing a US IPO or a partial sale of its global business to a private equity firm. According to The Guardian, Bet365 conducted talks with US advisers and Wall Street banks earlier in the year.
Although the UK remains a core market for Bet365, it has lost market share to competitors in recent years as others have advanced their technical capabilities and presented comparable bet builder offerings. A US listing makes sense if it wants to achieve the highest valuation possible and lean into the success of its US business, which continues to grow, while many of its European peers are exiting the market.
“ With more trading liquidity, and the US market( and Americas in general) likely being their main growth opportunity going forward, this is a compelling story for US investors,” Birkin muses on the Stateside listing opportunity for Bet365.“ A US IPO would give them a higher valuation and access to more capital than a UK listing.”
But in Birkin’ s view, private equity is a better option for the betting giant as, he says,“ It allows time for a change in management – assuming current management want to step back – and to accelerate growth while still a private company ahead of a US listing at some point in the future.”
THE SPAC ATTACK
In 2022, Betway’ s parent company Super Group merged with US special purpose acquisition company( SPAC)
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