Flutter's US casino partner to borrow $600m as business re-opens

Monday 18th May 2020

The US casino partner of Paddy Power owner Flutter hopes to complete a deal to borrow $600 million (€555 million) this week as prepares to re-open some of its businesses.

Flutter's US subsidiary Fanduel offers sports betting in partnership with Boyd Gaming at the latter's casinos in a number of states.

New York-listed Boyd plans to borrow $600 million in a bond issue it hopes to complete on Thursday. The group orginally announced that it would borrow $500 million, but upped the figure to $600 million at the end of last week.

Boyd, which runs casinos across the US, says it will use the cash for "general corporate purposes".

It recently furloughed staff as US states implemented Covid-19 restrictions. Reports at the weekend suggested the group could re-open businesses in Mississippi and Louisiana at the end of May.

Fanduel needs a bricks and mortar presence in the US states where it is licensed to provide digital sports betting. It chose Boyd as its partner in 2018 after a federal court ruling liberalised betting on sports including football, baseball and basketball.