UNFORGETTABLE MOMENTS
From upset wins, to gold medals decided by a few thousandths of a second, to world-record performances, this year’s Summer Olympics in Paris delivered many unforgettable moments.
Such compelling action has also highlighted the opportunity the Games represents to sports-betting fans, providing new ways to engage with their favored athletes and sports while filling a summer lull in the sporting calendar.
For Flutter globally, handle on this year’s Summer Games more than tripled from the Tokyo Games in 2021. On FanDuel, Flutter’s leading U.S. sports betting platform, the total handle was five times higher than Tokyo. When compared to more than three times higher in Super Bowl betting from 2021 to 2024, it’s evident that interest in Olympics betting has grown immensely.
Much of the growth came from new markets – 23 U.S. states now allow sports betting, versus just 10 when the Tokyo Games happened. However, the value of bets placed through FanDuel in those 10 states also more than doubled, proof of strong organic interest in this year’s Olympics. Other factors included favorable viewing times for American and European fans and an abundance of dramatic storylines.
"The Olympics is a global spectacle that captures everybody’s imagination"
"For two full weeks, sports, human achievement, and nail-biting competition are the biggest stories in the world providing Flutter a platform to engage customers, both new and old, in new sports and products which has a halo effect thereafter,” said Simon O’Shea, Flutter’s Head of In-House Global Sports Trading.
Bringing in new fans
The Games are also a powerful driver of sports more broadly – they draw attention to lesser-known sports, get viewers invested in the personal journeys of the athletes, and provide a global showcase for women’s sports.
Notably, Paris made history as the first Games to feature an equal number of men and women athletes. Flutter’s recent investment in women’s sports betting, particularly in the WNBA, paid dividends during the Olympics as women’s games not only dominated wagering in some sports - including 60% of soccer bets and 79% of gymnastics - but took a 24% share of all Olympic bets placed through FanDuel.
“Many people who aren’t typical sports fans are Olympics fans, so it’s a unique chance to branch out to new audiences we wouldn’t normally reach," according to Eric Gerson, a Sports Trader for FanDuel.
Winning with the Flutter Edge
The size of the Olympic opportunity was matched only by the scale of the challenge: analyzing and pricing events across 30+ sports and offering betting on over 320 individual events, many of which are niche disciplines that lack the robust data available for mainstream sports.
To keep operations running smoothly amid round-the-clock global interest, Flutter leaned on The Flutter Edge, its distinctive, global competitive advantage across talent, technology, product and capital. Combining global scale with local expertise, it helps Flutter capitalize on growth opportunities while underpinning capabilities such as data, product, and technology innovation.
SAME-GAME PARLAYS
For the Olympics, this included creating a specialist trading team from a global pool of experts, ensuring that the best talent was available to manage the complexities of Olympics betting, monitor evolving narratives, and quickly address significant developments. In-house pricing capabilities allowed Flutter to offer competitive and accurate odds across a huge variety of sports.
Flutter also introduced new Olympics betting offers, such as swimming and athletics related parlays, and innovative products like Same-Game Parlays (SGPs) for basketball, an increasingly popular form of wagering that combines multiple bets from the same game into a single wager. Overall, parlays accounted for 55% of bets in Paris, compared to just 20% in Tokyo, and helped power a surge in Basketball betting, which accounted for 63% of Flutter’s Olympics handle, versus 40% in Tokyo.
“Customers love SGPs because it allows them to write their own script, adding more suspense and excitement to a game,” commented Eric.
PIONEERING NEW MARKETS
The Paris Olympics not only showcased the pinnacle of athletic achievement, but also the power, potential, and reach of sports betting. With its global expertise and ability to pioneer new markets, Flutter and its platforms are well-positioned to ensure that all sports fans can engage with their favorite sports in exciting new ways.
“The Olympics are more than just a series of competitions, they are a global celebration that brings people together,” O’Shea said. “As the landscape of sports wagering rapidly evolves, for Flutter, the success of this year’s Games points the way toward further growth and innovation.”
Learn more about Flutter’s strategy for long-term growth
