Flutter Swings to Q2 Net Loss and Names Dan Taylor Next CEO

Flutter Entertainment (FLUT ) reported a $296 million net loss for the second quarter of 2026 on August 5, 2026, a swing from a $37 million profit a year earlier, and paired the results with a leadership handover: Peter Jackson will step down as chief executive on September 30, 2026, after nearly nine years, with Flutter president Dan Taylor taking over on October 1, 2026.

The Q2 earnings release shows revenue of $4.33 billion, up 3% year-over-year, against adjusted EBITDA of $508 million, down 45%. Adjusted earnings per share fell to $0.49 from $2.95, and the group’s leverage ratio climbed to 4.3x from 3.7x at December 31, 2025. Average monthly players fell 11% to 14.3 million, a decline Flutter attributes almost entirely to its exit from real-money gaming in India, which cost the group 17 percentage points of player growth.

Flutter also cut its full-year outlook. Group revenue guidance now sits at $17.91 billion at the midpoint, $395 million lower, and adjusted EBITDA guidance at $2.655 billion, down $210 million. The US business absorbed the entire cut: FanDuel-side revenue guidance dropped to $7.4 billion and US adjusted EBITDA to $760 million, while International guidance was left unchanged at $10.51 billion and $2.205 billion.

The CEO handover

The board’s separate announcement confirms Taylor will also join the board on October 1, 2026, with Jackson remaining as an advisor through the end of 2026. Taylor has been Flutter’s president since May 2026 and runs Flutter International, the division that generated more than $9 billion of revenue and over $2.2 billion of adjusted EBITDA in 2025. He previously served as CEO of Paddy Power Betfair from 2018 to 2020 and has held senior roles across the group for over a decade.

Jackson leaves a materially different company from the one he took 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,” he said in the earnings release. Board chair John Bryant credited Jackson with building “gold medal positions around the world” in the transition notice.

What hit the quarter

The US business did the damage. US revenue fell 6% to $1.68 billion, with sportsbook revenue down 15%, and US adjusted EBITDA collapsed 70% to $119 million. Flutter breaks the decline into several pieces: an adverse year-over-year swing in sports results, a 61% jump in US sales and marketing spend around the FIFA World Cup and the FanDuel Predicts launch, and investment in new state launches. Beneath the headline, the company says underlying sportsbook trends improved sequentially, with handle up 2% and FanDuel holding a 39% gross gaming revenue share in US online sportsbook and 27% in iGaming.

International revenue grew 10% to $2.64 billion, lifted by the Snai and Betnacional acquisitions; organic growth was 4%. International adjusted EBITDA still fell 19% to $476 million, which the company ties to the UK’s increase in remote gaming duty from 21% to 40%, effective April 2026, plus stepped-up World Cup marketing. Southern Europe and Africa was the standout, up 36% on record Sisal market share in Italy, while Brazil revenue grew 64% on the Betnacional deal even as organic revenue there fell 14%.

The net loss itself carries two one-off items worth separating from the operating picture: a $62 million provision tied to India’s goods and services tax following a Supreme Court of India judgment, and a $33 million accrual for historical US sales and use taxes. Interest expense rose $52 million to $162 million on debt taken on for the Snai and Betnacional acquisitions and the buyout of Boyd Gaming’s (BYD ) 5% stake in FanDuel.

Flutter’s Q2 2026 by the numbers

• Group revenue: $4.33bn, +3% year-over-year
• Net loss: $296m (Q2 2025: $37m profit)
• Group adjusted EBITDA: $508m, down 45%, at an 11.7% margin
• US adjusted EBITDA: $119m, down 70%
• International adjusted EBITDA: $476m, down 19%
• Adjusted EPS: $0.49 (Q2 2025: $2.95)
• Net debt: $10.48bn; leverage 4.3x vs 3.7x at December 31, 2025
• Average monthly players: 14.3m, down 11% after the India exit
• 2026 guidance cut: group revenue to $17.91bn, adjusted EBITDA to $2.655bn at the midpoint

Prediction markets move from experiment to revenue line

The quarter marks the first time Flutter has put a number on its prediction-markets push. The company expects its market-making operation to generate approximately $50 million of revenue in 2026, with $6 million booked in Q2, and says FanDuel Predicts sports and novelty contracts will move entirely onto the Crypto.com exchange while CME continues to carry financial-markets contracts. The ambition is to supply liquidity for combination markets across prediction-market platforms, not just its own app.

That puts Flutter on the opposite side of a debate now running through the US industry. Gaming.net has tracked the squeeze from the other direction: BetMGM pushed back its profit target last month with prediction markets eating into sportsbook economics, a federal bill would force sports betting off prediction-market platforms, and IG Group agreed to buy Underdog for $1.3 billion to get into the space. Flutter’s stated position is that prediction markets are incremental to sports betting, with limited cannibalization of its existing customer base in regulated states, and that FanDuel Predicts lets it acquire customers in states before sports betting is legal.

The FanDuel brand’s own history remains live in the background: the FanDuel founders’ suit against KKR over their 2018 exit payout survived a dismissal bid in July 2026.

The World Cup quarter and the cost plan behind it

Flutter engaged around 10.5 million customers across its brands during the FIFA World Cup, with strong US engagement through the knockout rounds feeding an early Q3 trading performance the company says is ahead of expectations. The tournament sits inside a broader surge in US soccer betting; Gaming.net examined the $4.3 billion World Cup betting handle and its effect on operator volumes last month.

Alongside the results, Flutter initiated phase two of its cost transformation program, targeting $500 million of gross operating cost and capital-expenditure savings by 2029. Phase one is tracking ahead of its previously guided $300 million of savings by 2027, with a further $200 million tied to UK tax mitigation also expected in 2027. The company says the phase-two savings are intended to absorb inflation and known tax increases while funding investment in revenue initiatives, with more detail promised at Q3 results in November 2026.

What happens next

Jackson hands over fully on October 1, 2026, and stays on as an advisor through December 31, 2026. On the calendar beyond the transition: Flutter expects roughly 20% of full-year US revenue in Q3 with US adjusted EBITDA approximately breakeven in the quarter, the cost-transformation phase-two detail lands with Q3 results in November 2026, and the company expects second-half cash generation to bring leverage down from 4.3x by the end of 2026. Its medium-term target remains a 2.0–2.5x leverage range. Management hosted an earnings call at 8:30 a.m. EDT on August 5, 2026, with the replay posted to Flutter’s investor hub.