Betfair, a subsidiary of Flutter Entertainment, will no longer offer its services to US consumers from 1 October. This forms part of Flutter’s global restructuring efforts following its merger with The Stars Group earlier this year.
In addition to Betfair’s market exit, Flutter said it would be withdrawing its PokerStars brand from Macau, Taiwan and China, but listed no specific reason for the decision.
According to US Betfair Exchange owner Kip Levin, the online betting exchange, while very popular in the UK and other regions, unfortunately did not appeal to US consumers.
“The exchange did not manage to reach the critical mass necessary to make the operation profitable and efficient,” Levin said in a statement.
“There are several reasons for [our] decision to withdraw from the NJ market, including a customer base used to exotic wagers and a reluctance by major US racing associations to embrace [a] different business model.”
In addition to market resistance, Betfair failed to enter agreements with key players such as Churchill Downs, Del Mar, Keeneland, the Stronach Group and NYRA to offer exchange betting for races at their tracks.
