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UK: Irish bookie in US$6B deal

 |  October 2, 2019

The owners of gambling groups Paddy Power and PokerStars agreed to combine on Wednesday, October 2, in a cross-border deal to create a UK company worth about £10 billion (US$12.3 billion) and with annual revenues of £3.8 billion billion (US$4.7 billion), reported Bloomberg.

Flutter, the parent company of PaddyPower Betfair, will buy Canada’s Stars Group in an all-share deal that will create the largest online betting operator in the world by revenue. 

The move comes after a months-long pursuit of the Canadian company by Flutter chief executive Peter Jackson, who must now navigate complex antitrust hurdles in the UK and Australia to complete the deal.

According to Bloomberg, the bid has been triggered by the opening up of the sports betting market in the US. That’s an opportunity for Flutter to apply its skills to a much larger territory.

Full Content: Bloomberg

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