Flutter's new CEO, Dan Taylor, is betting on better products and more generous customer rewards to turn FanDuel's improving engagement into stronger profits. Taylor has been CEO for five weeks. He issued his first earnings report on Wednesday, and third-quarter revenue and adjusted EBITDA missed Wall Street's expectations. The company's stock is down more than 60% year to date.
Taylor told CNBC that the company is on the right track. "We made some changes to the product," he said. "Fundamentally, the way you win this business is by delighting customers, delivering the very best experiences and delivering to them in the way that they want, with the right overall proposition."
FanDuel launched a nationwide rewards program in September. Taylor said it has "resonated really, really well." He reported that average monthly players on FanDuel's U.S. sportsbook rose 9% in the third quarter, and bet counts increased 15%.
Flutter's earnings release showed total U.S. average monthly players up 12%, including 24% growth in iGaming. Sportsbook handle rose 13%, but sportsbook revenue grew just 4% as promotional spending increased.
For the third quarter, Flutter reported an adjusted loss of 18 cents per share, compared with analysts' expectations of a 28-cent loss, according to LSEG. Revenue rose 2% to $3.87 billion, below the roughly $4 billion LSEG consensus. Adjusted EBITDA fell roughly 25% year over year to $360 million, also below expectations. The company posted a net loss of $1.15 billion, including an $873 million non-cash impairment tied primarily to Brazil, which banned sports betting and online gaming in September.
Flutter cut its full-year revenue midpoint by $300 million to $17.61 billion. It also lowered its 2026 adjusted EBITDA outlook by $160 million to nearly $2.5 billion. Taylor said Flutter needs to bring leverage back into its target range of 2 to 2.5 times over roughly the next 24 months before it considers buybacks again. For now, he said, the priority is organic growth and paying down debt.