If you ever wondered what FanDuel was worth, now you (sort of) know.
Flutter Entertainment and Boyd Gaming announced on Thursday that the companies have agreed on a deal. Flutter will buy Boyd’s 5% equity interest in FanDuel for around $1.76 billion. That is close to half of the entire revenue that Boyd generated in FY 2024, which was $3.9 billion.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025 and will give Flutter 100% ownership of FanDuel. The purchase price ostensibly gives the U.S. market-leading sportsbook an implied valuation of around $31 billion.
Flutter said in a release that FanDuel is “the clear number one” in the U.S. with a 43% market share in sports betting and 27% in online casino. FanDuel’s online sportsbook and online casino generated $5.79 billion of net revenue in 2024.
“Our acquisition of FanDuel in 2018 is one of the most transformational events in our group’s history, with its natural competitive advantages combined with access to Flutter Edge capabilities driving impressive growth to become the well-established and clear leader in US online sports betting and iGaming,” said Flutter CEO Peter Jackson.
“I am really pleased to drive future value for our shareholders by increasing our ownership of FanDuel to 100%.”
It’s worth noting that TV company FOX holds an option to buy 18.6% of FanDuel.
Flutter and Boyd cash in on shared history
Boyd received its 5% stake in FanDuel in 2018 as part of a partnership with the then-nascent operator. It was a major market access partner for FanDuel early in the operator’s lifespan, and still serves as one in states where online sportsbooks need partnerships with brick-and-mortar casinos.
As part of the deal, which also incorporates an extension of the firms’ long-term strategic partnership until 2038, FanDuel will stop operating all retail sportsbooks in states where Boyd has a presence, starting from Q2 2026. It will run Boyd’s retail sportsbooks outside of Nevada until mid-2026, at which point Boyd will take over.
Flutter stated that the revenue and adjusted EBITDA impact of those closures “is not expected to be material.”
Boyd’s own statement also noted that, post-close, the company will receive a fixed fee per state from FanDuel’s mobile sports-betting operations in Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania, as well as FanDuel’s online casino operations in Pennsylvania.
“This transaction unlocks the tremendous unrealized value that our investment in FanDuel has created for our company,” said Boyd President and CEO Keith Smith. “Boyd has been able to leverage this partnership to profitably participate in the rapid growth of sports betting across the country.”
FanDuel gets lower future market access costs
The buyout and the partnership extension include other changes. The companies have terminated certain existing market-access agreements that have been in place since 2018 and entered into new ones, and approximately $205 million of the acquisition’s total value is attributable to changing various existing commercial terms.
Those terms include reduced future market access costs for FanDuel, which Flutter noted amounts to “more attractive market access terms in states where FanDuel’s market access is provided by Boyd.”
Flutter expects the revised terms to result in an annual operating cost saving of approximately $65 million from July 1, 2025. Boyd, meanwhile, expects that the terms of the revised market-access agreements will see its online segment generate $50 million to $55 million in operating income and adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2025, and approximately $30 million in 2026.
Amid an ever-evolving regulatory landscape in U.S. online gambling, not least higher tax rates in several states, Flutter also noted its expected $65 million annual cost saving underlines its confidence in the long-term profitability profile of its U.S. business, “demonstrating the ability to help mitigate both recent and future tax increases.”
Flutter has entered into a definitive bridge credit agreement with certain banks with a view to loaning $1.75 billion to help finance the deal, as well as for general corporate and working capital purposes.
