Flutter Entertainment PLC (LON:FLTR) has suffered another reverse in a legal dispute with the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
The betting company behind Paddy Power and Betfair has been denied a petition calling for a rehearing of a court decision in December of last year relating to legal proceedings originally brought by the Commonwealth of Kentucky against certain subsidiaries of The Stars Group (TSG), which has been part of Flutter since May 2020.
The December verdict reinstated an award of US$870mln damages against TSG made in 2015 by a Kentucky trial court judge, adding compound interest of 12% a year on top.
At the time of that verdict, Flutter said it was confident that any amount it ultimately becomes liable to pay will be a limited proportion of the reinstated judgement.
It also said it was “wholly surprised” by the ruling whereas this time around it was merely “disappointed by the denial of its rehearing petition”.
Together with its legal advisors, Flutter will continue to consider its position in relation to the judgement, including potentially appealing the ruling of the case to the US Supreme Court.
Shares in Flutter were down 1.7% at 16,135p in late trading.