Speaking to SBC News, Dan Taylor, has underpinned that M&A continues to play a crucial role in localisation.
Taylor’s comments come as Flutter continues the diversification of its portfolio, as the firm taps into Flutter Edge advancements to boost active user engagement across all regulated markets.
Commenting on the importance of Flutter Edge, he told SBC: “This enables us to tailor innovation and investment to each market’s needs.”
He added: “M&A plays a key role in localisation, especially in markets where organic scale is harder to achieve, and through our federated model, with regional segments powered by specialist hubs, we can deliver local excellence backed by global firepower.”
“The global regulated betting and gaming market is expected to exceed $370bn by 2030. Flutter’s decision to transform into two core divisions— US and International — was a strategic move to unlock this opportunity with greater precision and agility.
“Our federated model ensures agility, while the Flutter Edge provides shared global strengths. This balance allows us to stay compliant, competitive and responsive to regulatory shifts.”
He also cast his perspective on developments in the UK, where he emphasised that in spite of a period of uncertainty being ended following the Gambling Act Review, concerns are still prevalent as potential tax rises loom in the upcoming UK budget.
It follows warnings from Sebastian Butterworth, Director of Racing Strategy at Flutter UKI, who emphasised that the touted rises will have a significant impact on future investments in racing.
He stated: “Any increase in gambling tax will have a profound effect on funding for racing – be that a rise in betting duty or a tax raid on people who play games like online bingo and poker.
“We are already having to reconsider certain investments in UK racing, and we urge the Government to reconsider.”
The industry is somewhat united in warning of the stark consequences of tax hikes. When asked during Entain’s H1 earnings call about the increase, CEO Stella David commented: “We shouldn’t forget, we’re a great British company who generates a huge amount of tax for the government. We were a top 20 taxpayer anyway. And I think we should be proud of the success that this company generates not only here in the UK, but in many other markets. That’s point one.
“Point two on the conversation about tax hikes, which have been muted. I think people should be very cautious about the law of unintended consequences. There is already a large black market in the UK and driving up tax rates has the potential of reducing the tax take because people go to the black market.
“It is very easy to access. There are very few controls that are in place to stop that right now. And there are examples in other markets, just take the Netherlands, when the tax rate went up significantly in January 2025. And they have already admitted, the chair of the regulator there, that has had basically an own goal. It hasn’t worked.”
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