Big money and broken lives in the gambling business

This is from the Weekend Review of The Irish Times on Saturday.

The Irish gambling company, Paddy Power, founded in 1988, has become, by way of organic growth, acquisitions, and mergers, Flutter plc, a global gambling operator based in Dublin that employs 14,500 people in offices around the world.

In August, Flutter’s share price rose by more than 8 per cent when it disclosed that its pre-tax profits had trebled to £72 million sterling (€91 million) in the first six months of 2021.

Operating profit in its Irish and British businesses, which include Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet, increased 54 per cent to £297 million, with all of this growth happening online. Because of Covid, the betting shops had been closed for most of the period, and had racked up £59 million in losses.