Flutter has acquired a 56% stake in Brazilian operator of the Betnacional brand, NSX Group, for a cash consideration of $350m (£266m).

The deal is set to create a new Flutter Brazil business, accelerating the Dublin-based firm’s investment in the country, which is set to fully regulate its online sports betting and iGaming market in early 2025.

NSX is the number four operator in Brazil, working with its portfolio of brands, which includes Betnacional.

The firm is expected to generate revenue of $256m (£194.8m) and an adjusted EBITDA of approximately $34m (£25.9m) in 2024.

With sports such as football being such a strong part of Brazilian culture, Flutter said that the country has a number of attractive characteristics, including the demand for sports betting and iGaming products, which has seen compound annual gross gaming revenue growth of 38% between 2018 and 2023 in the unregulated market to almost $3bn (£2.28bn).

The news comes after revenue at the owner of Paddy Power said its revenue increase by 20% in Q2 to £3.6bn.

Furthermore, EBITDA at the firm, which recently moved its primary listing to New York, increased by 17% in the same period to £738m.

Chief executive at Flutter, Peter Jackson, said: "I am excited to announce the addition of NSX, operator of Betnacional, a leading Brazilian sports betting and iGaming brand, to the Flutter portfolio.

"We believe that combining the extensive local expertise of the NSX team, our existing Betfair business and the power of the Flutter Edge, will create a compelling opportunity to capitalize on the growth opportunity in Brazil which presents an exciting runway of future growth."

Investment director at AJ Bell, Russ Mould, added: "Flutter Entertainment’s bet on Brazil, buying a large stake in a Brazilian operator, makes sense when you consider this is a rapidly regulating and potentially very sizable market. It may also have a positive read across for rival Entain, which has its own large Brazilian operation."

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