Paddy Power and Betfair owner Flutter took a tumble as successful bets from customers pushed it into a loss.

Shares in the gambling giant slumped 12.4 per cent, or 1339p, to 9456p after it posted a £288million loss for 2021 compared to a £1million profit the previous year.

It blamed an ‘unprecedented' run of customer-friendly sports results during the year, which cost the group's UK and Irish business £232million - including £149million in the fourth quarter alone.

The bumper winnings included one week in October when 15 out of 16 favourites won matches in football's Champions League.

Despite this, trading in the first weeks of 2022 had been ‘in line' with the group's expectations.

The underwhelming results followed news on Monday that Flutter would be linking up to 10 per cent of its annual bonuses to efforts to curb gambling addiction.

Interactive Investor's head of markets Richard Hunter warned regulation ‘looms large'.

‘Affordability checks and the ongoing Government review of the Gambling Act could well prove thorns in the side for the sector,' he said.

‘The gaming industry is a traditionally easy target for authorities needing to raise taxes and this could become a focus as governments look to repair their bruised financial positions.'

Flutter rival 888 also sank, by 10.5 per cent, or 25.4p, to 216.8p, after it was fined £9.4million by regulators.

The FTSE 100 was down 1.7 per cent, or 128.05 points, at 7330.2 while the FTSE 250 slumped 2.8 per cent, or 580.41 points, to 20,500.64.

<div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS money" data-version="2" id="mol-c2e50390-959f-11ec-b0d3-c7606558514c" website REPORT: Flutter on a losing streak as punters back favourites

In case you liked this short article and also you would like to get more info about slot gacor i implore you to go to the web-site.