Key Highlights

● Revenue rose 3% to $4,326 million, but the net loss was $296 million.

● Adjusted EBITDA fell 45% to $508 million, a margin of 11.7%.

● The 2026 adjusted EBITDA midpoint moved to $2.655 billion from $2.865 billion.

● Dan Taylor succeeded Peter Jackson as chief executive on October 1, 2026.

Flutter Entertainment plc (NYSE:FLUT), the owner of FanDuel, Paddy Power and other betting and gaming brands, trades on the New York Stock Exchange. On August 5, 2026 it reported second-quarter results that showed a sharp divergence between revenue and profit. Revenue was $4,326 million, up 3%, but the company recorded a net loss of $296 million, against net income of $37 million a year earlier, and adjusted EBITDA fell 45% to $508 million, a margin of 11.7% compared with 21.9%.

Adjusted earnings per share were $0.49 against $2.95, and average monthly players fell 11% to 14,287,000. Free cash flow was $189 million, up 21%, although the measure that includes financing capital expenditure and excludes player funds fell 56% to $125 million. The leverage ratio rose to 4.3 times from 3.7 times at the end of December 2025.

Segments and the Guidance Reset

The United States drove the deterioration. Segment revenue fell 6% to $1,683 million, with sportsbook revenue down 15% and iGaming up 14%, and adjusted EBITDA dropped 70% to $119 million from $400 million. International revenue rose 10% to $2,643 million, or 4% organically, with adjusted EBITDA down 19% to $476 million.

Management cut its 2026 outlook. The midpoint for group revenue moved from $18.305 billion to $17.91 billion and for adjusted EBITDA from $2.865 billion to $2.655 billion, with US adjusted EBITDA reduced to $0.76 billion from $0.97 billion. International guidance was left unchanged. The company attributed the US reduction mainly to a planned second-half increase in customer acquisition and retention spending, worth about $385 million of revenue and $270 million of adjusted EBITDA, and to a one-week delay to the start of the NFL season, worth roughly $50 million of EBITDA. Partial offsets included Q2 trading, $45 million of extra US cost savings and the market-making revenue noted below, while capital expenditure guidance fell to $815 million from $855 million. These are management's explanations.

Tax, Regulation and Leadership

The release also points to regulatory cost pressure. Remote gaming duty in the United Kingdom rose from 21% to 40%, a total 2026 adjusted EBITDA impact of $320 million before about $85 million of mitigation. The quarter included a $62 million provision for Indian goods and services tax and a $33 million accrual for US sales and use tax. Management describes prediction markets as an attractive, incremental opportunity and expects about $50 million of 2026 market-making revenue, but says FanDuel Predicts revenue was not material in the quarter.

Leadership has also changed. Peter Jackson stepped down as chief executive and from the board on September 30, 2026, and Dan Taylor, formerly chief executive of Flutter International, succeeded him on October 1, 2026 and joined the board. Jackson will advise until year end. The company said guidance assumes a consistent regulatory and tax framework, so further changes to gambling taxes would pose a clear risk.

Tax Framework and Deleveraging Priorities

A $250 million first-half share repurchase tranche was completed on May 11, 2026, with 2.4 million shares bought, taking cumulative cash returned since the fourth quarter of 2024 to $1.37 billion. Management says it is prioritizing organic investment and deleveraging, with a medium-term target of 2.0 to 2.5 times.

The S&P 500 is a broad, diversified measure of large US companies, whereas Flutter is concentrated in a single regulated industry with country-by-country tax exposure. The comparison is therefore about different risk profiles.