Film on Paddy Power's origin story in development with Irish cast

A feature film tracing the origin story of Paddy Power is in production, according to reporting by Variety and confirmed by SBC News.

The project comes from Ireland-based production company Playhouse Studios. It draws on the 2021 book 'Punters: How Paddy Power Bet Billions and Changed Gambling Forever', whose author, Aaron Rogan, serves as deputy editor at the Business Post.

At the centre of the story is Stewart Kenny, the bookmaker's co-founder and former chief executive, whose advertising instincts helped shape the brand. He has since turned into a prominent critic of the betting industry.

Reports name Alex Murphy, Aidan Gillen, Colm Meaney and Brian Gleeson among the cast attached to the production, with Matt Lipsey, known for directing instalments of Ted Lasso, set to direct.

Paddy Power has been one of the dominant names in British and Irish betting for decades, underpinning the wider growth of Flutter Entertainment. Flutter's UK presence spans the Sky Betting and Gaming and Betfair brands alongside Paddy Power itself, and the group ranks among the two largest operators in the United States through FanDuel.

The company's current structure traces back to the 2015 merger of Paddy Power and Betfair, which created a dominant operator across the Irish and British markets. The 2018 acquisition of FanDuel in the US expanded the group into a global operator, and it was renamed Flutter Entertainment in 2020.

Flutter now operates in around 100 countries and carries a market capitalisation of more than $14bn on the New York Stock Exchange.

Despite that commercial success, the film's synopsis signals a critical take on the company's history. According to the synopsis reported by Variety, the story "claws open the lid of how a few chancers changed the world as we know it, destroying hundreds of thousands of people's lives forever."

With Kenny now a vocal critic of the sector he helped build, the tone of the adaptation will draw attention from across the industry. Variety's report gives no indication that anyone with a current or former stake in Paddy Power or Flutter Entertainment is involved in the production.

Playhouse Studios appeared to confirm the project on LinkedIn, reposting the Variety article with the caption "We have some exciting news."

Playhouse chief executive Peggy Cafferty was quoted in Variety saying Paddy Power "stood out immediately as a story with real scale, authentic dark humour, grit and tenacity," adding, "You could not make up this incredible story."

Cafferty also said Rogan's book made for "such an easy, engaging read" and credited the writing team with capturing the adaptation "brilliantly," describing the project as charting "the extraordinary rise of one company that refused to play by the rules and set out on a path of ambition, risk and consequence."

She further noted that the company had "stepped outside the norms of marketing with brilliant twists and always with wit," calling the production "fearless" and the story one that "resonates with audiences far beyond Ireland."

No release date for the film has been set.