Flutter Entertainment posted group revenue of $4.304 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 17% year-on-year, in a set of results that reinforced the world’s largest online betting and gaming operator’s structural advantage across both the US market and its international portfolio.
The headline revenue growth was supported by acquisitions including SNAI in Italy and Betna Finale, but the organic standout was iGaming, which grew 28% across the group, led by FanDuel’s North American casino performance.
FanDuel’s iGaming division recorded 19% revenue growth year-over-year, driven by an expanding direct casino player base and improved engagement among higher-value customers. The company’s loyalty programme, which has been rolling out since the end of last year, is showing early signs of delivering on its promise, with daily reward boxes and exclusive content being credited in the earnings call as key drivers of improved frequency among regular users. Monthly active users in FanDuel’s casino segment grew 10%, a pace that management said was ahead of expectations at this stage of the loyalty rollout.
On the sportsbook side, the picture was more mixed. Flutter acknowledged that its US sportsbook improvement plan is progressing “in line with expectations,” which is management’s careful way of saying the recovery is real but not spectacular.
Prediction markets emerged as a notable topic on the analyst call, with the company fielding multiple questions about whether the surge of interest in event contracts represents a cannibalistic threat to traditional sports betting or a complementary revenue stream. Flutter’s management did not provide a definitive answer, but the market is clearly watching.
Group adjusted EBITDA rose 2% to $631 million, while the adjusted EBITDA margin contracted by 210 basis points to 14.7%, reflecting investment in loyalty initiatives and acquisition integration costs. Net income fell 38% to $209 million, partly due to higher interest costs on the group’s increased debt load following the acquisition programme. Free cash flow of $153 million was up 74% year-over-year in Q1, though the full-year trajectory will be shaped by the pace of capex normalisation.
Flutter is also returning capital to shareholders, with $190 million of a planned $250 million buyback programme already completed as of May 1.
The company remains confident that leverage will reduce by year-end after a period of expected increase in Q2 and Q3. With the US online casino market continuing to expand across more states and iGaming consistently outperforming sports betting as a growth driver, Flutter’s global diversification is proving its worth in a quarter when macro headwinds made it difficult for most companies to deliver broad-based gains.
