The owner of FanDuel, Flutter FLUT.N, has forecasted modest profit growth for 2026, falling well short of analysts’ expectations, due to challenges in the main American betting market intensified by unsuccessful attempts to attract customers with promotions and bonuses.
The world’s largest online betting company reported a 21% surge in its core profit for 2025 on Thursday, but only expects a 4% growth this year to reach $2.97 billion, significantly lower than the $3.5 billion expected by analysts surveyed by LSEG SmartEstimate.
The company’s shares plummeted over 9% in after-hours trading.
Flutter stated that the forecasts largely reflected lower levels of customer engagement in the U.S. in the fourth quarter and through 2026, after taking more money from American football bettors than its competitors during a series of favorable sporting results.
While bookmakers typically make more money when favorites lose, Flutter noted that the lack of big names towards the end of the NFL season meant that customers were less interested in gambling during playoff games.
“We simply did not execute our generosity strategy as well as we should have against these results,” said Flutter CEO Peter Jackson to Reuters, referring to the promotions and bonuses that gambling companies offer to entice customers to bet.
Mr. Jackson mentioned that FanDuel, holding a 41% market share in the U.S., plans to enhance how it rewards customers to be “better positioned” for the 2026/27 NFL season, including launching a loyalty program in the second quarter.
Flutter also intends to increase investment in its new predictive markets platform launched in late December with the derivatives exchange CME Group CME.O.
Predictive markets, allowing users to earn money based on the likelihood of specific events occurring, whether in sports, entertainment, politics, or economics, have gained popularity in the United States.
With FanDuel Predicts now offering non-sports markets in all 50 states and sports markets in 18 states, including California, Texas, and Florida where sports betting is illegal, Flutter expects the investment to reduce the core profit for 2026 in the upper end of its previous estimate of $200 million to $300 million.
