Flutter Lowers 2026 Outlook, CEO Peter Jackson to Step Down
Flutter has cut its full-year revenue and profit guidance and set out plans to pour more money into FanDuel, as the operator confirmed that long-serving chief executive Peter Jackson will hand over the top job in October.
The FanDuel and Paddy Power owner reported second-quarter results on August 5, 2026.
The Guidance Cut
The headline was the guidance cut. Flutter lowered its full-year group revenue outlook by $395m to $17.91bn at the midpoint, and trimmed adjusted core profit guidance by $210m to $2.655bn.
Group revenue in the quarter rose 3%, but the company posted a net loss of $296m, against a $37m profit a year earlier, after historical tax provisions that included a $62m charge tied to India's Junglee business and a $33m US sales-tax accrual.
A large slice of the profit cut is deliberate. Flutter said it would make a net investment of about $385m in revenue terms, and roughly $270m in adjusted core profit, to strengthen its proposition and accelerate FanDuel's sportsbook momentum in the second half.
In plain terms the company is trading near-term profit for market share, funding promotions and product ahead of the NFL season.
FanDuel Still Leads the US
FanDuel remains the US market leader, holding the top spot in both online sportsbook and iGaming, with a 39% share of sportsbook gross gaming revenue and 27% of iGaming.
Flutter framed the extra spend as protecting that lead rather than defending a weak position, pointing to strong engagement during the FIFA World Cup, when its brands drew around 10.5 million customers.
A Leadership Change at the Top
The results also confirmed a leadership change. Jackson will step down as group chief executive on October 1, 2026 after nearly nine years, with Dan Taylor, president of Flutter and head of its international business, taking over. "In my time as CEO Flutter has changed beyond recognition, transitioning from a UK-focused Paddy Power Betfair, into the world's leading online sports betting and iGaming operator," Jackson said in the results. He will support the handover through the third quarter.
The change comes amid pressure in the US, where growth from prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket has crowded into the space sportsbooks occupy. Flutter is meeting that head-on through FanDuel Predicts, its own event-contract product, which it called "a very attractive opportunity, incremental to sports betting and iGaming".
The company said it has agreed to move FanDuel Predicts sports and novelty contracts onto the Crypto.com exchange, while keeping access to CME's financial markets, part of a broader debate over who regulates regulates prediction markets.
Cutting Costs to 2029
Cost is the other lever. Flutter launched the next phase of its cost programme, targeting $500m of gross savings by 2029 to offset inflation and known tax rises, including a $320m adjusted core profit hit from higher UK online gaming taxes this year.
The company expects to recover $85m of that through early mitigation.
What to Watch Next
The next read comes with the NFL season, the point Flutter itself has flagged as the test of its FanDuel investment.
Whether the extra spend converts into durable share, and how Taylor sets his own course once he takes over, will decide if the guidance cut proves a one-off reset or the start of a tougher stretch for the US betting leader.
