Paddy Power & Betfair merge with Sky Bet & Betstars

It was announced to the stock exchange that there would be a merger between Flutter Entertainment and the Stars Group. This will create the largest online gambling company in the world with revenues surpassing that of bet365, GVC Holdings, and Ladbrokes Coral.

Whilst Flutter media and the Stars group may not sound like well know names their brands certainly will. Here are all the bands that will be under the new company

• Paddy Power – Flutter
• Betfair – Flutter
• Sky Bet – Stars group, purchased from Sky in 2017
• Bet Stars – Stars Group
• Poker Stars – Stars Group
• Full Tilt Poker – Stars Group

And they also own some US-based brands

• Fan Duel – Daily Fantasy Sports, purchased by PP/BF in 2018
• Fox Bet – The US equivalent of Sky Bet, linked to Fox Sports, like Sky Sports

The combined strength of their brands will allow them to reduce their costs in the merger and build on the base of all the brands. This takes them to another level in the global betting markets.

A strong factor behind this decision will be their quest for customers in the USA. At the start of 2018 online gambling became a legal option for states. Some states are already allowing bets and most will follow in the next 2-3 years. This is a huge opportunity and many companies are trying to establish themselves as the leader in the market.

In 2018 Flutter Group announced the purchase of Fan Duel daily fantasy sports for around £30 million despite it never making a profit. This looks like a purchase to access the database of customers that Fan Duel has built up.

Tie that in with the Stars groups deal to run FoxBet off the back of Fox Sports in the US and they have a big head start on most companies. Their main competitors will be Draft Kings, William Hill USA, MGN casinos, and Rush Group who are already operational in numerous states.

What does this mean for their current brands?

As we have seen from the mergers of Paddy Power and Betfair, and the Stars Group and Sky Bet they generally don’t change the brands – Just the name of the PLC! With long-established brands and well-known names, it seems better to just let them keep running rather than try and change things to a new name.

In the UK we are not expecting to see any changes at a customer level or any changes to their betting apps. It may just be a case that the money going out of your bank will have a different name showing on it depending on what they settle on.

In the US we may see some mixed branding with Fox Bet set to be one of the headline names in the industry. This is something that will pan out over time.