Paddy Power Buys FanDuel in Bid to Dominate Sports Betting

Paddy Power Betfair Plc agreed to take control of the closely held website FanDuel, as the Irish bookmaker seeks to gain from an expected rise in sports betting following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this month. Paddy Power will own 61 percent of the combined business after contributing its U.S. assets and $158 million of cash, the Dublin-based company said Wednesday in a statement. It’s the first of a wave of possible U.S. deals involving betting companies after the Supreme Court struck down the federal law that barred sports betting in most of the country.