Paddy Power is a familiar name in British and Irish betting. Betfair is known for its betting exchange. FanDuel is an American sports betting brand. Yet all three belong to Flutter Entertainment plc, alongside PokerStars, Sky Betting & Gaming and other gambling businesses. They belong to the same listed group, but their products and geographic footprints differ, even where their markets overlap.
Understanding how that happened helps a British reader make sense of both the brands on betting websites and the names in company announcements. The story runs from Irish bookmakers through the Betfair merger to major US and international deals, before ending with Flutter's move from a London stock-market listing to New York.
| When | The turning point | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Three Irish bookmaking businesses came together | The Paddy Power business took shape |
| 2 February 2016 | Paddy Power and Betfair completed their merger | Two established brands became part of one listed group |
| 2018 | The group gained control of FanDuel | Its American business gained a major consumer-facing name |
| 28 May 2019 | Paddy Power Betfair became Flutter Entertainment | The parent company adopted an identity beyond its original two brands |
| 5 May 2020 | The combination with The Stars Group completed | PokerStars and Sky Betting & Gaming joined the wider portfolio |
| 31 July 2025 | Flutter completed the Boyd stake purchase | Flutter reported a 100% holding in FanDuel, subject to existing rights disclosed in its filings |
| 3 August 2026 | Flutter's London Stock Exchange listing was cancelled | The NYSE became its sole remaining share listing, under FLUT |
From Irish Bookmakers to Paddy Power
Flutter's history has two early dates that can easily be confused. The company's legal lineage runs back to Corcoran's Management Limited, incorporated in Ireland on 8 April 1958. That is the registration of a predecessor company, not the birth of the Paddy Power brand.
The name British and Irish punters came to recognise emerged in 1988, when bookmaking businesses associated with David Power, Stewart Kenny and John Corcoran came together under a shared identity. Flutter's tribute to David Power identifies the three founders. They were building a recognisable betting business, not yet the multinational group that exists today.
Keeping those beginnings separate makes the next step easier to follow. The Paddy Power business established in 1988 was the one that would join forces with Betfair in 2016.
The Betfair Merger and the Birth of Flutter
By the time Paddy Power joined forces with Betfair, the two names stood for different ways of engaging with betting. Paddy Power was an established bookmaker; Betfair brought its exchange business and its own customer proposition. But the merger did not replace one consumer brand with the other.
The merger completed on 2 February 2016, creating Paddy Power Betfair plc. It was an all-share merger, meaning the deal was structured around shares in the combined business rather than a straightforward cash purchase of one company. On the diluted basis described in its subsequent financial statements, the original Paddy Power shareholders held 52% and the original Betfair shareholders 48% immediately following the transaction. Those percentages describe the merger's ownership structure, not who owns Flutter shares today.
What changed was the business behind the two names, not the names customers used. Paddy Power and Betfair remained distinct betting brands while the new group worked to bring functions such as marketing, trading and customer operations closer together. In its 2016 results, the company reported £35m in cost synergies achieved in 2016 and an expected £65m in annual savings from 2017. These were measures of its integration programme, not a measure of the merger's total financial return.
Three years later came a change that made more sense as the portfolio widened. On 28 May 2019, Paddy Power Betfair plc was renamed Flutter Entertainment plc. The name changed, not the company’s date of origin. It gave the parent an identity broader than the merger partners.
The distinction became central to the group's subsequent expansion. A familiar name could remain on a betting website even as the corporate parent and the scale of the business changed.
The Deals That Made Flutter Global
FanDuel, PokerStars and Sky Betting & Gaming entered the group through subsequent transactions. Here, distinguishing an agreement from a completed deal is crucial.
FanDuel Opens the US Chapter
In May 2018, Paddy Power Betfair announced plans to combine its Betfair US business with FanDuel. The 23 May transaction announcement described the contribution of US assets and US$158m in cash. Under the announced terms, Paddy Power Betfair would initially own 61% of the combined business once the transaction completed.
The announcement was not the closing date. Flutter's subsequent financial disclosures place the acquisition of control of FanDuel in 2018. For the group's direction, the bigger change was the American business gaining a recognised local betting name at its centre. Flutter could expand its US presence through FanDuel rather than asking American customers to recognise Paddy Power. The 61% was the proposed initial stake at that stage, not an enduring ownership figure.
The Stars Group Broadens the Portfolio
Another major expansion came through The Stars Group. On 5 May 2020, Flutter completed its combination with the Canadian-headquartered group, as confirmed in the completion announcement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The transaction had been proposed earlier, but the completion date is the point at which the historical story changes from agreement to combined group.
The Stars Group brought two especially recognisable parts of the betting world into Flutter's portfolio. PokerStars was an international poker brand with its own history. Sky Betting & Gaming was a British betting and gaming business with a separate customer identity. Both came into Flutter's wider group through the same 2020 combination, not through two separate direct purchases by Flutter.
Before that deal, the parent combined the Paddy Power and Betfair businesses with an expanding US presence. Afterwards, it also encompassed major poker and British betting operations associated with The Stars Group. The brands did not suddenly share identical products, accounts, licence holders or offers because their parent had changed.
From a Majority Stake to Full FanDuel Ownership
Having acquired control of FanDuel in 2018, Flutter went on to increase its stake. On 3 December 2020, it announced a conditional agreement to acquire Fastball's 37.2% interest for US$4.175bn. The announcement described a proposed increase in Flutter's holding from 57.8% to 95%. Those figures relate to the 2020 agreement, not the initial terms announced in 2018, and an agreement should not be confused with its completion.
The next decisive step came on 31 July 2025, when Flutter confirmed that it had completed the purchase of Boyd Gaming's remaining 5% interest and reported a 100% holding in FanDuel. Flutter's filings also described an existing Fox option, so the headline holding does not describe every contractual right associated with the business.
The equity stake changed hands, but the commercial relationship continued: Flutter also confirmed that its partnership with Boyd was extended to 2038. That is a more useful way of reading the 2025 development than treating every percentage in FanDuel's history as if it applied at the same time.
Meanwhile, the group continued adding operations elsewhere. Its 2025 Annual Report records Snai being consolidated from 30 April 2025 and NSX, associated with the Betnacional brand, from 14 May 2025. These are accounting consolidation dates, not necessarily the dates on which the acquisitions were first announced. Expansion did not stop with FanDuel and The Stars Group.
Across these deals, the result was not one global betting website wearing the Flutter name. It was a larger listed group containing businesses that customers still recognised in their own markets.
Which Brands Sit Under Flutter Today?
Who owns Flutter Entertainment? Flutter Entertainment plc is a publicly traded parent company owned by its shareholders. Paddy Power and FanDuel are names within the group's portfolio, not alternative names for the whole listed company.
The following is a selected map from Flutter's FY2025 portfolio, not an exhaustive subsidiary register or a claim that every service is available in every country.
Betting and gamingUK and Ireland
Exchange, betting and gamingUK and international markets
Sports betting and iGamingUnited States
Poker and iGamingInternational markets
Betting and gamingUnited Kingdom
Sports bettingAustralia
Betting, gaming and lotteryItaly
BettingBrazilSelected official brand marks supplied through Flutter media download packs. This is a portfolio overview, not a legal ownership chart.
| Brand or business | Familiar market context | How it fits the history |
|---|---|---|
| Paddy Power | UK and Ireland | Grew from the Irish bookmaker combination that preceded the 2016 merger |
| Betfair | UK and international markets | Entered the combined listed group through the 2016 merger |
| FanDuel | United States | Became the focus of the US chapter from the 2018 combination |
| Sky Betting & Gaming | United Kingdom | Came into the wider group through The Stars Group in 2020 |
| PokerStars | International poker and iGaming markets | Another major brand brought into the group through The Stars Group |
| Sportsbet | Australia | Part of the group's FY2025 international brand portfolio |
| Sisal and Snai | Italy | Show the scope of the portfolio beyond the original Irish and British businesses |
| Betnacional | Brazil | Associated with the NSX business consolidated during 2025 |
The map explains the business portfolio, not which company holds each gambling licence. A group-level brand connection is not enough to infer the operator, account arrangements or current availability of a particular product in the UK.
What the Expansion Looked Like in the Financial Results
A series of large deals is easier to understand when the scale of the resulting group is visible. Flutter's FY2025 consolidated US GAAP results, reported in US dollars, provide a useful snapshot.
| FY2025 group measure | Reported result |
|---|---|
| Revenue | US$16,383m |
| Operating profit | US$36m |
| Net loss | US$407m |
Revenue measures the group's reported business activity, not money left over as profit. Flutter recorded US$36m of operating profit in FY2025, but also US$515m of net interest expense, US$286m of income tax expense and US$358m of other net income. These items help explain why the consolidated income statement finished with a US$407m net loss. A business can report operating profit and still make a net loss once other items are taken into account.
For perspective, the same 2025 Annual Report gives FY2024 group revenue of US$14,048m, against US$16,383m in FY2025. Both are consolidated revenue figures presented under US GAAP. The difference shows that the group reported a larger revenue base in FY2025, but it does not measure the payoff from any one acquisition. New businesses entering consolidation, trading performance and other factors can all affect the total.
The longer history explains why Flutter became a multinational portfolio; the financial statements show the reported size and results of that portfolio at a specified time. They do not establish that every deal succeeded, or that revenue growth automatically translated into higher profit.
What the History Explains About Flutter Now
Flutter did not become a global betting group by turning every acquired business into Paddy Power. Its history is a series of mergers, combinations and stake purchases that brought distinct brands under one listed parent. That is why a familiar name on a betting website and the name attached to a company's shares can tell different stories.
When an older announcement appears to conflict with a newer one, two questions usually help: what date is it describing, and at what level of the business? A consumer brand, an operating company and Flutter Entertainment plc are not interchangeable. Asking those questions makes sense of the changing FanDuel stakes, the 2016 merger and the move from FLTR in London to FLUT in New York.