Strong demand for sports betting in the US at the start of the National Football League season helped Flutter Entertainment surpass analyst expectations to report 27 per cent quarterly sales growth.

The world’s largest online betting company, which moved its primary listing from London to New York this year, recorded revenue of $3.25 billion for the three months to the end of September, up from $2.56 billion a year earlier and ahead of analyst expectations of $3.03 billion. Revenue in the US rose 51 per cent year-on-year to $1.25 billion. In the UK and Ireland, revenue grew 18 per cent to $846 million.

The revenue growth helped reduce Flutter’s net loss to $114 million in the third quarter, from a loss of $262 million a