Flutter CEO Jackson to Step Down as Prediction-Market Pressure Mounts

Flutter Entertainment said CEO Peter Jackson will step down on 30 September, capping a nine-year tenure that saw the company become the world's largest online gambling operator but ended amid a sharp sell-off and mounting pressure from prediction markets. Jackson, who also leaves the board, will be succeeded on 1 October by Dan Taylor, currently president of Flutter International. The announcement came on the company's second-quarter earnings call, months after FanDuel CEO Amy Howe departed her role.

The leadership change follows a bruising period for the stock. On the day of the earnings call, Flutter shares hit an intraday low of $89.71, the lowest in five years, after the company cut its full-year US adjusted EBITDA guidance by 22%. The stock closed the next session at $94.46, still roughly two-thirds below its record close of $308.60 in August 2025; Flutter's market capitalisation has fallen from around $53 billion to just above $16 billion.

Second-quarter results showed revenue up 3% to $4.33 billion, but the company slipped to a $296 million net loss with adjusted EBITDA down 45% to $508 million. In the US, revenue fell 6% to $1.68 billion, with sportsbook revenue down 15% and iGaming revenue up 14%. Flutter reported $6 million in prediction-market-related revenue for the quarter and expects about $50 million for the full year, while anticipating category expenses of more than $200 million.

Prediction markets and strategic missteps

Analysts and investors increasingly blame prediction markets for Flutter's decline. US prediction platforms saw an estimated $50 billion in World Cup trading volume, and Kalshi handled roughly 83% of notional prediction-market volume in June. H2 Gambling Capital estimated prediction markets captured 27% of World Cup betting, while Blask data shows their popularity surging since the start of 2026. The shift comes as US sports betting faces scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers over consumer protection, advertising practices and prediction markets operating outside traditional gaming licences.

FanDuel Predicts will move all of its sports and novelty contracts from CME Group to Crypto.com, although CME will retain its 51% stake in the product. Jackson, who said the company needs to be "thoughtful" about launching its own market-making exchange, noted that Betfair Exchange holds a "pretty small market share" in markets where it coexists with sportsbooks, including the UK, Italy and Brazil.

The company also faced a costly setback in India, where its $556 million investment in Junglee Games did not pay off as the country moved against iGaming regulation. Barry Orr, CMO of Solas Compliance, said it was disappointing to see prediction markets grow without Flutter in the vanguard given its history with the Betfair Exchange brand. "Flutter had all the fundamentals," Orr said, "but they failed to recognise the opportunity or react like a first mover."

Analyst reaction and DraftKings comparison

Investor Michael Burry, founder of Scion Capital, said on a Substack post that he more than doubled his stake in Flutter at an average cost of $90 a share, describing the purchase as a "fat pitch" and blaming prediction markets for the sell-off. Susquehanna's Joe Stauff wrote that the decline suggests skepticism on customer retention, anxiety about hyper-competition in the fall football season, and signs that FanDuel is roughly 9-12 months behind DraftKings in establishing a prediction offering. Stauff kept a positive rating but cut his price target from $121 to $115, while Macquarie's Chad Beynon lowered his target from $190 to $160.

DraftKings, which reported earnings after the bell on Thursday, maintained its fiscal 2026 revenue guidance of $6.5 billion to $6.9 billion. For the first time it defined quarterly sports revenue to include prediction markets, reporting $1.99 billion in sports revenue for the three months ended 31 May, up 5.7% year over year, and saying more than 600,000 customers have engaged with its predictions segment since the start of 2026. "Predictions is already growing faster than we anticipated," DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said. Taylor, for his part, said he looks forward to leading the business as Flutter continues to innovate and grow.