Does Flutter’s Tom Watson tie-up make sense?

Flutter Entertainment caused a few industry insiders to do a double-take last week after recruiting former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson as an adviser with a focus on responsible gambling. The Financial Times broke the story, reporting Watson would be paid “no more than six figures” while describing the former MP as an “anti-gambling campaigner”. Neither point was quite accurate – Flutter moved quickly to amend the reported pay package to “less than six figures”, while Watson is not anti-gambling, although he is a fierce detractor of some of the sector’s more questionable practices. A quick scratch beneath the surface by The Guardian revealed that Watson – now chair of UK Music – described Flutter-owned flagship betting brand Paddy Power as “dirty and money-grabbing” for offering markets on the murder trial of former athlete Oscar Pistorius. So how will Watson fit in at Flutter? Will he dust down the skeletons in the closet to enact real change for the benefit of vulnerable consumers from the inside, or is this merely a PR win and a cushty conclusion for both parties ahead of the government’s review of the Gambling Act?

GBGC CEO Warwick Bartlett The appointment of Watson has similar connotations to Facebook appointing Sir Nick Clegg, the former Liberal Democrats leader who was previously critical of Facebook. He seems to be doing a good job, and one would hope that Watson would steer Flutter and the industry in the same way. If a company genuinely wants to put its house in order, why not employ someone who has been critical in the past? We were all entertained by the true story of Frank Abagnale in Catch Me If You Can. He was a master forger who ended up working for the FBI! Regulus Partners analyst Dan Waugh The appointment should bring challenging perspectives into the company’s boardroom and in a way that directors and senior management will find difficult to ignore. At the same time, it will expose Watson to other aspects of the gambling reform debate and allow him to see first-hand how a major operator works and how it is changing. We must believe that the move is prompted by a genuine desire to raise standards and to put the business on a more sustainable footing. If more superficial motivations are at play here, they are likely to be exposed fairly quickly, and with unattractive consequences. Clifton Davies director David Clifton I regard Watson’s appointment by Flutter as strategically sensible. He is not a “vocal anti-gambling campaigner” as the FT claimed last week. He clearly has a genuine interest in the subject of safer gambling and some of the gambling reform suggestions made by him while deputy leader of the Labour Party now seem worthy of serious consideration, most certainly when compared with some of the more extreme ‘knee-jerk’ recommendations of the Gambling Related Harm All Party Parliamentary Group.