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Second deal in a week for Flutter

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Acquisition to boost Flutter's earnings per share

immediately

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Flutter to lift online market share in Italy to around 30%

(Recasts first paragraph, adds details on Brazilian deal in

paragraph 4, shares in paragraph 10 and context throughout)

By DhanushVignesh Babu

Sept 17 (Reuters) - Flutter Entertainment said

on Tuesday it would buy Snaitech for 2.3 billion euros ($2.6

billion) including debt from gambling technology group Playtech ( PYTCF )

, cementing its position as the leading gambling firm in

Italy.

The deal is to close by the second quarter of 2025 and will

add to earnings per share immediately for Flutter, the world's

largest gambling company.

It will also see one of Italy's biggest gambling companies

change hands and leave Playtech ( PYTCF ) to focus on its operations as a

business-to-business software provider.

It marks the second deal in a week for Flutter, which

announced last Friday it would buy a 56% stake in Brazil's NSX

Group, the operator of Betnacional, for about $350 million to

expand in the soon-to-be regulated Brazilian market.

The move comes as Flutter, which has seen an influx of new

customers and revenue from the United States, continues its

aggressive international expansion.

Earlier this year, the company, whose brands include Paddy

Power and Poker Stars, shifted its primary listing to New York

from London.

The acquisition will strengthen Flutter's standing in Italy,

giving it an online market share of about 30% when combined with

existing Italian operations, Flutter said. Flutter already owns

Sisal, one of the largest online gambling operators in Italy.

Flutter is in more than 20 countries globally, including the

booming U.S. market where it operates the FanDuel brand.

Playtech ( PYTCF ) has operations in 19 countries. Snaitech, its

business-to-consumer unit, made 946.6 million euros in revenue

last year.

The two parties have been in talks regarding Snaitech since

August. Shares in the owner of FanDuel and Paddy Power added

0.8%, reaching their highest level since March 2024, while

Playtech's ( PYTCF ) shares rose as much as 2% to their highest since

November 2021.

($1 = 0.8988 euros)