On an August morning in 2016, Stewart Kenny, the co-founder of Paddy Power, was struggling to keep his emotions in check as he took his seat around the firm’s board table at its Dublin headquarters. The company he helped set up 28 years earlier had recently finalized a £7 billion ($8.4 billion) merger, making it one of the world’s biggest gambling companies.
Paddy Power had led the transformation of the betting industry from one of drab shops that smelled of stale cigarette smoke into a digital wonderland where anyone with a smartphone could access a maze of blackjack tables, flashing slot machines, and virtual horse races.