Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has approved the merger of Irish bookmaker Paddy Power and the world’s largest online betting exchange, the UK-based Betfair.
Headquartered in Dublin with its main listing on the London Stock Exchange, the newly created Paddy Power Betfair will have a market capitalization of about €9.4 billion and annual revenue of about €2 billion. It will own and operate online betting businesses in Europe, the US and Australia, serving over four million customers from more than 100 countries.
Also in February, UK bookmakers Ladbrokes and Gala Coral are expected to complete their planned merger, creating a new company in possession of nearly 4,000 betting shops, or about 45% of the British total. With only around 600 land-based betting INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS shops of its own, Paddy Power Betfair will have a much smaller bricks-and-mortar operation, and lower revenues to boot. Yet while both Ladbrokes and Gala Coral have struggled with the internet, around 80% of the new Paddy Power Betfair’s revenue will be from online business. Higher margins online and internet gambling’s greater potential for growth mean the Paddy Power Betfair deal is valued at over three times the total €2.83 billion Euros the markets are giving the Ladbrokes Coral merger.
