Flutter Cuts US Revenue and Profit Forecasts as FanDuel’s American Growth Story Hits a Wall

Flutter Entertainment, the parent company of FanDuel, has cut its US revenue and profit forecasts after FanDuel ended 2025 with a smaller customer base than the company had projected and with higher-than-expected spending required to retain existing users. The revision represents a significant recalibration for a company that moved its primary stock market listing from London to New York in 2024, in large part because of the promise of its US sports betting operations.

FanDuel remains the market leader in US online sports betting and iGaming by most measures, but the combination of increased competition, higher state tax rates, and the emergence of prediction markets has made maintaining that position more expensive than anticipated. Flutter’s revised outlook does not indicate the company is abandoning its US ambitions, but it signals that the path to profitability in the American market is longer and more difficult than the industry projected during the initial years of legal sports betting expansion.

The Cost of Staying on Top

FanDuel has faced sustained pressure from DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, and the rapidly growing Fanatics Sportsbook, all of which have invested heavily in promotions and loyalty programs designed to capture bettors’ primary account relationships. The result is an environment where customer acquisition costs remain elevated even years after initial legalization in most major states, because every operator is fighting to be the default sportsbook for each bettor.

Tax rate increases in key states have compounded the challenge. Illinois imposed a sharply higher tax on sports betting revenue that significantly reduced margins in one of the country’s largest markets. North Carolina lawmakers are now considering a rate increase that could reach 30 percent. Higher tax burdens make profitability harder to achieve, particularly in states where operators are simultaneously spending on promotions to maintain market share.

Prediction Markets Changing the Landscape

The emergence of prediction markets as a competing product for sports bettors has added a new dimension to FanDuel’s challenges. Sporttrade recently announced it is shutting down its US sports betting operations and pivoting to prediction markets, a signal of how significantly the industry’s competitive dynamics have shifted. FanDuel has responded with its own prediction market offering, FanDuel Predicts, but integrating the product profitably into the company’s core sports betting model remains a work in progress.

The broader industry is also experiencing layoffs and strategic repositioning as companies adjust to a market that is maturing faster than expected. The days of aggressive customer acquisition at nearly any cost appear to be giving way to a more disciplined focus on unit economics and sustainable growth.

What This Means for Bettors

For sports bettors, the competitive pressure among the major operators generally translates into better promotions and improved products as companies fight to hold onto customers. FanDuel continues to offer one of the most feature-rich sportsbook experiences in the market, and the ongoing competition ensures that the platform will continue investing in odds quality, same-game parlays, and live betting tools. Bettors weighing their options should review current offers at the FanDuel review and check the DraftKings review for comparison, as both platforms regularly update their new user offers in response to competitive pressure.