In October 2019, Flutter Entertainment, owner of Paddy Power and Betfair, agreed to merge with The Stars Group, owner of PokerStars, in an all-share deal worth about $12.2 billion. Flutter shareholders ended up owning about 55% of the combined company, Stars Group shareholders the remaining 45%. The deal completed in May 2020, creating the world's largest online betting and gaming company by revenue at the time.
What exactly was this deal?
It was a merger of two of the biggest names in online gambling, structured as an all-share transaction rather than a straight cash purchase. Instead of Flutter paying cash for The Stars Group, shareholders on both sides ended up owning stock in one combined company: Flutter's shareholders got about 55% of it, The Stars Group's shareholders got the remaining 45%. Structuring it this way let both sides share in whatever the combined company was worth afterward, rather than one side simply cashing out.
Why did these two companies want to combine?
Because together they built something bigger than either could alone. The deal brought PokerStars, the world's biggest poker brand, together with Paddy Power and Betfair in sports betting, Sky Betting & Gaming in the UK, and FanDuel in the United States. Combining that many strong, well-known brands under one company created the largest online betting and gaming business in the world by revenue at the time, with real strength across poker, casino and sports betting rather than being strong in just one category.
Why did the timing matter so much?
Because US sports betting was just taking off. The US Supreme Court had struck down the federal ban on state-level sports betting in 2018, and states were legalizing it one after another right as this merger was closing in May 2020. FanDuel, one of the brands that came into the combined company through this deal, was already positioned as one of the leading operators in that emerging US market. Landing this merger right as that market opened up gave the combined company a stronger position to grow into it than either company would likely have had alone.
Where did The Stars Group actually come from?
This deal was six years in the making, even though it only took seven months to close. The Stars Group started life as Amaya Gaming, a mid-sized company that bought PokerStars' parent company, Rational Group, for $4.9 billion in 2014, then renamed itself The Stars Group in 2017. See the full story of that first deal. Without that 2014 purchase, there is no single company holding PokerStars for Flutter to merge with in 2019. One acquisition set up the next, bigger one.
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The bottom line
Flutter Entertainment's merger with The Stars Group combined two giants into one even bigger giant, right as US sports betting was taking off. PokerStars, Paddy Power, Betfair, Sky Betting & Gaming and FanDuel all ended up under one roof through a $12.2 billion all-share deal that traced its roots back to a much smaller purchase six years earlier.
Deals at this scale are rare, but the underlying playbook, strong brands, real scale, and a platform that can actually run all of it, is available at any size. If you want to see what running a modern iGaming brand looks like without needing a multi-billion dollar merger first, see how a white label casino and sportsbook platform works, or see pricing to compare the real cost of starting your own.
Key takeaways
- Flutter Entertainment and The Stars Group announced an all-share merger in October 2019, valued at about $12.2 billion.
- Flutter shareholders ended up owning around 55% of the combined company, Stars Group shareholders the remaining 45%.
- The deal completed in May 2020, about seven months after it was announced.
- The combined company became the largest online betting and gaming business in the world by revenue at the time.
- The merger brought PokerStars together with Paddy Power, Betfair, Sky Betting & Gaming in the UK, and FanDuel in the fast-growing US market.
- The Stars Group itself traced back to Amaya Gaming's 2014 purchase of PokerStars, meaning one 2014 deal quietly set up this much larger one six years later.
