DUBLIN, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Flutter ,

the world's largest online betting company, said on Wednesday it

expects to more than double its core profit by 2027 and that it

had authorised a share buyback of up to $5 billion to be

deployed over that period.

Flutter, which has forecast full-year profit of around $2.5

billion this year, said that figure should reach more than $5

billion by 2027, with almost half of it coming from the booming

U.S. market that it now sees growing at a faster-than-expected

pace.

Flutter's London-based shares were 5.2% higher at 1230 GMT.

The Irish betting group said ahead of an investor day in New

York that it expected to launch the buyback following its

third-quarter earnings in November and that it would be deployed

over the next three to four years.

Flutter's growth has been transformed by the gambling

boom in the U.S., where its FanDuel brand has become the market

leader following the lifting of a ban on sports betting in 2018.

Based on the U.S. states where it currently operates,

the company now expects core profit there to treble to $2.5

billion in 2027 from the $680 million to $800 million forecast

for this year and the $167 million reported for 2023, which

represented Flutter's first full year of profitability following

years of heavy investment.

It sees the total U.S. market growing to $63 billion by

2030 compared to the $40 billion it forecast two years ago.

Flutter, whose market leading brands elsewhere include

Paddy Power and Betfair in Britain and Sportsbet in Australia,

expects core profits to grow to around $3 billion in the rest of

the world, helped by its recent acquisitions in

Italy

and

Brazil

.