Paddy Power film charts the rise of the largest gambling business in the world

Cork actor Alex Murphy who starred as Conor in The Young Offenders is amongst the cast.

The "extraordinary story" of the rise of the largest gambling business in the world is the subject of a new Irish feature film called Paddy Power.

It is based on a 2022 book by investigative journalist and deputy editor of the Business Post, Aaron Rogan, called 'Punters: How Paddy Power Bet Billions and Changed Gambling Forever.'

The book is an account of how Paddy Power, which began as a small Dublin bookmaker, transformed into one of the world’s most recognisable betting companies, but also about the costs of their commercial victory to their customers and wider society. The parent company of Paddy Power rebranded as Flutter Entertainment in 2016 following a merger with Betfair.

Actors Brian Gleeson, Colm Meaney, Alex Murphy and Aiden Gillen are all attached to star in the film, which will claw open the lid of how a few chancers changed the world as we know it, destroying hundreds of thousands of people’s lives forever.

Matt Lipsey, the director of Ted Lasso, Inside No.9, and Little Britain, will direct, and long-time writing duo Dale Longmore and John Quinn have adapted Rogan’s book into a film script with Brian Durnin.

“Paddy Power stood out immediately as a story with real scale, authentic dark humour, grit and tenacity. You could not make up this incredible story," said Peggy Cafferty, CEO at Playhouse Studios, who will produce the film. "Aaron Rogan’s voice made the book such an easy, engaging read and we feel the writing team captured the adaptation brilliantly."

Rogan said he began reporting on the story a decade ago and was delighted to see the story's value appreciated by Playhouse Studios. "It's an Irish story with global appeal and the growth of the gambling industry in the US in recent years makes this adaptation all the more timely,” he noted.

The announcement marks a significant milestone for Playhouse Studios as it is the first title from the Irish media company's original scripted slate. The growing slate, built around character-driven stories with strong commercial appeal, is designed to deliver premium film and television projects while leveraging both Ireland and the UK's world-class production infrastructure.

The company was founded by Cafferty and CIO Lorcan Kavanagh, with other senior leadership including Mark Foligno and Deepak Sikka. It recently opened its Playhouse Post Noel Street base and a Belfast office, as part of its strategy to build an integrated production ecosystem across the UK and Ireland, spanning development, financing, production and post-production.

Playhouse Studios also recently financed Underground Films and Rocliffe Productions’ Lemonade, starring Barry Keoghan, which premiered at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.

As Cafferty puts it: "Everyone loves a great, true story that's as dramatic as fiction.