Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment plans to return about €4.5 billion to shareholders over the next three to four years as it targets close to €20 billion in revenues.
The New York-listed betting giant told investors on Wednesday it was well positioned to cash in on growth in the US, its biggest market, as well as the rest of the world.
Flutter said its board had authorised the company to buy back up to $5 billion (€4.47 billion) worth of shares from investors over the next three to four years.
Share buy-backs are a way of returning cash to investors. Flutter expects to launch the scheme after it announces financial results for the third quarter in November, it said in a statement.
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It added that the timing and number of shares repurchased would depend on legal requirements, price and market conditions.
Chief executive Peter Jackson said the buy back “reflects our confidence in Flutter’s future”.
He pointed out that the company was in a position to cash in on markets worth a potential $370 billion globally.
Mr Jackson predicted the Irish-founded group would have the cash to invest in growth, buy other businesses and return capital to shareholders.
Flutter hopes group revenues will reach $21 billion (€18.78 billion) in 2027 while the business could generate more than $5 billion in cash.
It estimates the North American market could be worth a potential $70 billion by 2027, with the US accounting for $63 billion of this and Canada the balance.
Flutter expects the rest of the world, including the Republic and Europe, to reach $298 billion by 2030.
Along with Paddy Power, Flutter owns Betfair and Sky Bet, which operate in Ireland and Britain, as well as Sportsbet in Australia. It owns FanDuel in the US, which holds leading market positions in states that have legalised sports betting following a federal supreme court ruling in 2018.
Flutter recently confirmed it had bought Italian company, Snaitech, for around €2.3 billion, from its London-listed owner, Playtech, giving it a 30 per cent slice of Europe’s biggest gambling market.
Snaitech is Italy’s biggest online betting business offering sports gambling and casino and slot machine games. More than two million people bet with it online per day, according to its website.
It also owns more than 1,600 betting shops in Italy, and two racetracks, including San Siro in Milan, as well as a horse racing broadcasting business, Epiqa, and Happybet, which has outlets in Austria and Germany.
Italian customers are expected to increase their online betting in the coming years, a move likely to benefit Snaitech.
News of the deal came shortly after Flutter said it had bought 56 per cent of Brazil’s NSX Group, which operates the South American country’s Betnacional business, for €316 million.
Flutter noted on Wednesday that both deals are subject to approval by competition regulators, a process it predicted should be completed during the second quarter of next year. Projections given to shareholders at an investors’ day on Wednesday included the likely benefit of both transactions.
Flutter will have top three positions in most of the world’s regulated gambling markets if both deals are approved, analysts noted after the group announced the Snaitech transaction.
The group told shareholders that its individual businesses kept their local focus while benefiting from the backing of a global leader.
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