Paddy Power Betfair chief executive Peter Jackson has been chosen as The Irish Times Business Person of the Month for June, an award run in association with KPMG.
Paddy Power Betfair has struck two deals in recent weeks that will position it to be amongst the first European beneficiaries of a federal court ruling lifting a ban on sports betting in most US states.
In the first, it merged its US unit with New York-based fantasy sports specialist FanDuel, giving it 61 per cent of the merged business in exchange for assets and €135 million cash. It has the option to take 80 per cent after three years and 100 per cent after five.
Days after that, Paddy Power Betfair announced that it had signed deals to provide mobile and on-line sports betting with Meadowlands racetrack in New Jersey and Tioga Downs Casino in New York, both part of the same company.
That move came as New Jersey’s state legislature passed laws allowing licensed betting on sports such as football, baseball and basketball. Analysts believe New Jersey residents will be allowed bet on these events by the autumn, with New York following suit early next year.
Jackson succeeded Breon Corcoran as Paddy Power Betfair chief executive at the beginning of this year. He joined from global payments business, Worldpay, where had taken the helm the previous March.
He had been an independent director of Paddy Power Betfair 2016 and before the pair merged to form the gambling multi-national, served on the Betfair board from 2013.
