Adds details, CEO quotes throughout

By Padraic Halpin

DUBLIN, March 4 (Reuters) - Flutter FLTRF.L, FLUT.N, the world's largest online betting company, said on Tuesday it expects to increase its core profit by around 34% this year following growth of 26% in 2024, driven again by its fast-growing and market-leading U.S. brand FanDuel.

The Irish-founded company's growth has been transformed by a gambling boom in the nascent U.S. market. CEO Peter Jackson expects gamblers there to be resilient to any knock on consumer impact from President Donald Trump's imposition on Tuesday of 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

"Historically our business has been very strong in the face of challenges from a consumer economics perspective so we've always been quite defensive from that perspective," Jackson told Reuters in an interview.

"We're a growth business. I think that even in the face of these sort of macro and global challenges, the business will continue to progress."

Flutter, which said 2025 had started well including a record number of bets wagered at the Super Bowl, expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of between $2.94 billion and $3.38 billion compared to the record $2.36 billion posted in 2024.

It expects $1.28 billion to $1.52 billion of that to come from the U.S., up 176% at the midpoint of the range. Flutter forecast in September that its U.S. EBITDA would reach $2.5 billion in 2027.

FanDuel nudged up its leading share of the U.S. sports betting market to 43% and the iGaming market to 26% in the fourth quarter when a previously flagged run of customer-friendly NFL results cut quarterly profit by 3% year-on-year.

It expects 2025 core profit of $1.75 billion to $1.95 billion in its other markets, including the Paddy Power, Betfair and Sportsbet brands.

While that is in line with 2024 at the midpoint, it would be 10% higher if foreign currency headwinds and the impact of bookmaker friendly sports results in 2024 are excluded, Flutter said.

Jackson also said Flutter will be putting forward a bid to run Italy's national lottery game, hoping to add the licence to its growing portfolio of businesses in the country.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by David Gregorio)

((padraic.halpin@thomsonreuters.com; +353 1 500 1504; Reuters Messaging: padraic.halpin.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))