Paddy Power: licences, history and record

Paddy Power is an Irish bookmaker formed in 1988 from three bookmaking businesses and now owned by Flutter Entertainment. Four companies hold the Gambling Commission licences it trades under, and its help centre lists Maltese licences too. In December 2025 the Commission recorded a £2 million settlement over safer-gambling controls at Paddy Power and Betfair.

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Pros and cons

At a glance

Founded

1988, by merging three Irish bookmakersSources: Paddy Power; Wikipedia

Owner

Flutter Entertainment plc, which merged Paddy Power with Betfair in February 2016Source: Flutter Entertainment plc

Remote licensees in Great Britain

PPB Counterparty Services (39439), PPB Entertainment (39426), PPB Games (39411), PPB GE (52819)Sources: Gambling Commission; Gambling Commission; Gambling Commission; Gambling Commission

Other licences read

Malta Gaming Authority: sports betting, gaming and a platform provider licence, per the help centreSource: Paddy Power

Shops

506 in the United Kingdom and Ireland at 31 December 2025Source: Flutter Entertainment plc

Not on the register

Ontario directory has no Paddy Power entrySource: iGaming Ontario

Regulator action found

Commission: £2,000,000 settlement, 17 December 2025Source: Gambling Commission

Last read

3 October 2026Source: Paddy Power

Company history

According to Wikipedia, Paddy Power was founded in 1988 when Stewart Kenny, David Power and John Corcoran combined about forty shops. Flutter's annual filing gives the same year and says the company was formed from three independent bookmakers, one of them Corcoran's Management Limited, incorporated in Ireland on 8 April 1958.Sources: Wikipedia; Flutter Entertainment plc

Wikipedia says the chain's share of Irish off-course betting rose from 8% in 1988 to 33% in 2001. The company listed on the Irish and London stock exchanges in December 2000, which Flutter's filing confirms. At the end of 2005 it ran 195 outlets, 150 in Ireland and 45 in the United Kingdom. By February 2010 it ran 356, including 139 in Great Britain.Sources: Wikipedia; Flutter Entertainment plc

Paddy Power's own help page says it launched a website around the turn of the millennium and an iPhone app in May 2010. Wikipedia records a majority stake in the Australian bookmaker Sportsbet in May 2010. In September 2015 it agreed to merge with Betfair, and the deal completed on 2 February 2016 under the name Paddy Power Betfair.Sources: Paddy Power; Wikipedia; Flutter Entertainment plc

Flutter's filing says the group took the name Flutter Entertainment on 28 May 2019 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange on 29 January 2024. In 2025, its UK and Ireland region, which covers Sky Bet, Paddy Power, Betfair and tombola, produced $3,547 million of revenue, 22% of the group. Wikipedia reports that in October 2025 Paddy Power said it would close 57 shops and cut 247 jobs.Sources: Flutter Entertainment plc; Wikipedia

Public criticism has centred on advertising and novelty markets. Wikipedia says the Advertising Standards Authority upheld all 5,525 complaints about a 2014 Oscar Pistorius promotion. It also records a 2010 hack that exposed data on more than 649,000 people.Source: Wikipedia

1. 1988Founded

   Three Irish bookmakers merge about forty shops under the Paddy Power name (Wikipedia and Flutter's filing).

   Sources: Wikipedia; Flutter Entertainment plc
2. December 2000Stock market listing

   The company lists on the Irish and London stock exchanges.

   Source: Flutter Entertainment plc
3. 2 February 2016Merger with Betfair

   Paddy Power and Betfair Group complete their merger as Paddy Power Betfair plc.

   Source: Flutter Entertainment plc
4. 28 May 2019Renamed Flutter Entertainment

   Paddy Power Betfair plc changes its name to Flutter Entertainment plc.

   Source: Flutter Entertainment plc
5. 29 January 2024New York listing

   Flutter lists on the New York Stock Exchange and moves its primary listing there on 31 May 2024.

   Source: Flutter Entertainment plc
6. 17 December 2025Commission settlement

   The Gambling Commission records a £2,000,000 payment in lieu of a financial penalty for four Paddy Power and Betfair licensees.

   Source: Gambling Commission

Licences it holds

Where you can and cannot use it

Great Britain: yes, under the four Commission licences above. The help centre says its parent group holds licences that let it serve customers globally, and it lists Irish-registered companies, PPB GE Limited and a branch of Power Leisure Bookmakers, though it gives no Irish licence number.Source: Paddy Power

The help centre keeps separate deposit-limit pages for the United Kingdom and for Ireland and the rest of the world, and gives complaint timings for UK and Isle of Man customers that differ from those for Ireland, Malta and other non-UK customers.Sources: Paddy Power; Paddy Power

Ontario: iGaming Ontario's directory, accurate to 1 September 2026, has no Paddy Power entry. Flutter's own brand there is FanDuel Canada. We did not open paddypower.com, so we cannot list the other countries it accepts customers from.Sources: iGaming Ontario; Flutter Entertainment plc

Payments and withdrawals

Debit cards and Apple Pay deposit from £5 or €5 and arrive at once, and an account can hold up to three debit cards. Other methods listed include Pay by Bank, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, Rapid Transfer, MuchBetter and bank transfer, plus cash in a Paddy Power shop. Paddy Power says it charges no deposit fees.Sources: Paddy Power; Paddy Power

Pay by Bank runs on Open Banking and is described as instant for deposits and withdrawals. Bank transfers take one to five days to credit, and the account username must be the reference. Credit cards do not appear among the accepted methods, which fits the Commission's ban on credit-card gambling for British customers.Sources: Paddy Power; Paddy Power; Gambling Commission

Withdrawals to Visa cards and participating Mastercards are described as instant, arriving in one to four hours. Standard card withdrawals take two to five working days. Customers outside the UK and Ireland can cancel a card withdrawal before midnight, and the page says UK and Irish customers cannot.Sources: Paddy Power; Paddy Power

The net deposit rule requires a customer to withdraw to each method at least what was deposited through it before withdrawing elsewhere. The help centre calls the rule a regulatory requirement.Source: Paddy Power

Every payment method must belong to the account holder. A third-party method can be removed, the account suspended and documents requested, and the operator reserves the right to void bets placed with it. Its source of funds page lists payslips, bank statements, trust deeds and award letters as evidence it may ask for.Sources: Paddy Power; Paddy Power

Limits and safer-gambling tools

Deposit limits can be daily, weekly or monthly, either as a plain limit or as a net limit that credits withdrawals back. Limits reset at 00:00 UTC, weekly ones on Monday and monthly ones on the first of the month. A decrease applies at once, and an increase takes 24 hours and then needs confirming at the next login.Source: Paddy Power

Paddy Power also sets default limits for UK and Irish customers. The page gives £500 a month for under-25s, and £3,000 for new customers over 25 in their first 30 days, then £5,000. UK defaults use a rolling 30 days and Irish ones use calendar periods. Customers can ask to challenge a limit.Source: Paddy Power

Loss limits on games run by day, week, month or year, and an increase takes seven days to apply. UK slot stakes are capped at £2 a spin for ages 18 to 24 and £5 a spin from 25, dates the help centre gives as April and May 2025. Customers cannot ask for either cap to be raised.Sources: Paddy Power; Paddy Power

Short breaks last one to thirty days. Long breaks last six months to five years, on one product or on all Paddy Power services, and funds return within ten working days where possible. Lifetime exclusion closes the account.Source: Paddy Power

A deposit control set on Paddy Power does not carry over to Betfair, Sky Bet or PokerStars, and the shops sit outside it.Sources: Paddy Power; Paddy Power

Drawbacks

The Commission's statement is the main drawback. It found that systems missed overnight play and fast deposits, and its examples are mostly Betfair customers: £12,000 in 15 days and £25,000 in 25 days before a manual review. We cannot attribute the individual cases to Paddy Power.Source: Gambling Commission

The retail estate is shrinking, and the shops sit outside the online safer-gambling tools. The help centre says Paddy Power Retail is not covered by its deposit controls or self-exclusion, so a customer needs separate arrangements for the shops.Sources: Paddy Power; Paddy Power; Wikipedia

The help centre says Paddy Power charges no inactive-account fee, but it may move funds in a dormant account to another internal account after 24 months. The funds stay the customer's, with thirty days' notice, and after seven years of inactivity the account is deleted.Source: Paddy Power

Flutter's filing records a June 2025 incident in which an unauthorised party reached personal information held by the Paddy Power and Betfair businesses. It expects no material effect on operations, but says claims have followed. Our sources do not say how many customers were affected.Source: Flutter Entertainment plc

How it compares

Paddy Power and Ladbrokes are both bookmakers with a long shop history that now operate mainly online under a listed group, Flutter and Entain. Both hold Commission licences and carry a settlement on the public record. Neither appears in the Ontario directory we read.Sources: Gambling Commission; Gambling Commission; iGaming Ontario

The scale of the shop estate differs. Flutter reports 506 Paddy Power shops in the UK and Ireland, while the Commission register lists 2,680 premises for Ladbrokes Betting & Gaming. Paddy Power is Irish in origin and Ladbrokes British, and each brand's licences sit with several companies.Sources: Flutter Entertainment plc; Gambling Commission

The record differs in shape. Paddy Power's 2025 settlement was £2 million across four licensees and one set of controls, while Ladbrokes' 2022 package was £17 million. Ladbrokes' parent also signed a £585 million deferred prosecution agreement over bribery counts that no Paddy Power source we read mentions.Sources: Gambling Commission; Gambling Commission; Crown Prosecution Service

Read the Ladbrokes review for the other side of the comparison.

If something goes wrong

Paddy Power says it acknowledges a complaint within 24 hours and aims to give an initial response within five working days. Its page gives eight weeks for a final answer to UK and Isle of Man customers. A UK customer can take an unresolved complaint to IBAS, and customers outside the UK are pointed to eCOGRA.Source: Paddy Power

Licence code 6.1.1 requires a UK licensee to let a customer refer an unresolved dispute to a free alternative dispute resolution entity once eight weeks have passed since the complaint. The Commission's complaints guide tells customers to complain to the operator first and lists account closure, voided bets and verification among the usual subjects.Sources: Gambling Commission; Gambling Commission

Regulatory record

1. 19 March 2014Advertising Standards Authority: upheld

   The ASA upheld all 5,525 complaints about an advert that made light of a murder trial and disability, according to Wikipedia. We did not read the ruling itself.

   Source: Wikipedia
2. 17 December 2025UK Gambling Commission: £2,000,000

   Four licensees agreed a payment in lieu of a financial penalty after the Commission found they breached paragraphs 1, 4, 7, 8 and 11 of licence code 3.4.3 on customer interaction between August 2023 and May 2024. They had an action plan in place and accepted the failings early, which the Commission counted as mitigation.

   Sources: Gambling Commission; Gambling Commission

What we could not check

• Paddy Power's own website, odds, offers, cash-out rules and restricted countries (we read the help centre, not the sportsbook).
• Whether the Malta licences are current on the Malta Gaming Authority's register, which we did not check.
• How many Paddy Power customers, as distinct from Betfair customers, the 2025 Commission statement concerns.
• Irish licensing: the help centre names Irish companies but no licence, and we did not read the new Irish regulator's register.
• Which help-centre figures have changed since their pages were written; several pages carry no date.
• Any regulator outcome outside Great Britain that this page does not list.