Fox Bet Struggles Amid Ownership Dispute and Poor Reach

Fox Corp.’s desire to be a leader in the U.S. sports betting market has hit a bump in the road as online sports betting platform Fox Bet struggles and faces an ownership dispute with its partner, FanDuel owner Flutter Entertainment. 

Fox partnered with Flutter — the world’s largest listed gambling group — after Flutter bought The Stars Group, the online gambling company that created Fox Bet, for $6 billion in 2019. 

Fox Bet has failed to gain traction in the U.S. betting market due to its poor reach and tech.  

• The app is only available in four states: Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. 
• It has less than 1% of the U.S. online betting market outside Nevada (FanDuel has 40%).
• It is operating on an app that “hasn’t received the updates required to compete in the U.S.,” Wagers.com senior analyst Steven Ruddock told Bloomberg.

The failure to expand has caused a rift between Fox and Flutter due to an inability to agree on a price to exercise Fox Bet’s option to purchase 18.6% of FanDuel at an $11.2 billion valuation. 

Flutter bought a 37.2% stake in FanDuel from Fastball Holdings for the same value in December 2020. FanDuel and Fox are set to go into arbitration in June to resolve the issue.

Bettor Business

Flutter reported a pre-tax loss of $383 million in 2021 behind efforts to curb gambling addiction but generated $8 billion in revenue in FY2021, a 37% increase year-over-year.

FanDuel pocketed $2 billion in revenue in FY2021, a 113% uptick compared to the year prior.