FanDuel CEO Howe Leaves Company

FanDuel CEO Amy Howe has exited the company, Flutter Entertainment announced Wednesday, ending a five-year tenure that coincided with FanDuel’s rise to the top of the U.S. online gaming market and coming as the company confronts slowing sportsbook growth and increased pressure from prediction markets.

Key Takeaways

• FanDuel CEO Amy Howe exited as Flutter reported slowing sportsbook growth, including a 9% year-over-year handle decline and 6% drop in monthly players.
• FanDuel President Christian Genetski, who joined the company in 2017, takes her role amid a broader restructuring.
• Company maintained plans to invest heavily in its prediction market.

The leadership change came shortly before Flutter reported first-quarter U.S. sportsbook revenue growth of just 1% year over year, alongside a 9% decline in betting handle and a 6% drop in sportsbook average monthly players. Overall U.S. revenue rose 6% to $1.76 billion, helped by stronger iGaming performance, while adjusted EBITDA for the U.S. segment fell 26% to $119 million. 

Flutter CEO Peter Jackson framed the executive shakeup as part of a broader restructuring designed to sharpen the company’s U.S. focus as competitive pressures intensify. Howe’s departure Wednesday came with no prior leadership transition announcement. 

“The U.S. market, and FanDuel's leading position within it, represents one of the most significant growth opportunities in our industry,” Jackson said during the company’s earnings call. “It is essential that we have the right structure and leadership in place to fully capitalize on it.”

Under the new structure, Flutter International CEO Dan Taylor was promoted to the newly created role of president of Flutter Entertainment and will oversee FanDuel alongside his existing responsibilities. Meanwhile, FanDuel president Christian Genetski will assume leadership of the U.S. business. 

Jackson credited Genetski with helping scale FanDuel into the market leader, saying the changes would “sharpen our focus on the U.S. sportsbook, strengthen the connection between our U.S. and international divisions, and fully leverage the group's expertise, capital, and strategic ambition.”

Genetski joined FanDuel in 2017, the year before the daily fantasy sports operator was acquired by UK-based Flutter (then Paddy Power Betfair). He graduated with a JD from Vanderbilt University Law School, per his LinkedIn profile, and spent nearly a decade as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center before entering the private sector full-time in 2010.

Leadership changes

Howe joined FanDuel in 2021 after previously serving as president and chief operating officer at Ticketmaster. During her tenure, FanDuel expanded from 10 to 26 states, grew its iGaming position from what she described as a “distant No. 3” into an industry leader and launched new products including the company’s prediction market platform, FanDuel Predicts.

In an internal farewell message sent to employees and re-posted by multiple media outlets on social media, Howe reflected on FanDuel’s growth during her tenure and emphasized the company culture built during a period of rapid industry expansion. She also highlighted FanDuel’s prediction market rollout, writing that the company had launched “a competitive prediction market product amid a rapidly changing regulatory landscape.”

FanDuel now represents roughly half of Flutter’s worldwide revenue and has generated most of the company’s financial growth since its 2025 listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

Shocking news in the world of sportsbetting. I can exclusively report FanDuel CEO Amy Howe is out after five years at the sportsbook @CNBC https://t.co/HHxmf9Rd7c

— Contessa Brewer (@contessabrewer) May 6, 2026

The leadership transition arrives during a more challenging phase for the broader U.S. online sports betting industry. After years of explosive expansion after the Supreme Court struck down the federal sports wagering ban in 2018, FanDuel and its other digital gaming competitors in recent quarters have faced slower customer acquisition growth, higher taxes, promotional recalibration, and emerging competition from federally regulated prediction market platforms.

The company said FanDuel exited 2025 with a smaller customer base than anticipated, contributing to first-quarter sportsbook average monthly players declining 6% year over year. January sportsbook handle fell 10% year over year before improving later in the quarter.

The company has also disclosed plans to shut down FanDuel TV’s racing network and the FanDuel Picks product later in 2026 as part of broader cost-efficiency efforts.

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Flutter response

Flutter executives nevertheless pointed to improving trends during March and April, driven partly by promotional changes and loyalty initiatives. The company recently launched a phased sportsbook loyalty program and introduced “Bet Protect+,” which allows bettors to insure wagers for an added fee.

At the same time, Flutter continues investing heavily in prediction markets despite modest early revenue returns. Company officials reaffirmed plans to lose as much as $300 million in adjusted EBITDA investment losses on FanDuel Predicts this calendar year.

Executives maintained that prediction markets currently have only limited cannibalization impact on traditional sportsbook activity, though they acknowledged such products may attract new “entertainment-first” users into the broader ecosystem. FanDuel Predicts now offers sports-related event contracts in 18 states, including California, Texas, and Florida, where it doesn’t offer its sportsbook.

Flutter lowered portions of its 2026 guidance, citing unfavorable sports results and additional investment costs tied to its mobile sports betting launch in Arkansas in addition to its ongoing prediction market investments. The company now expects U.S. adjusted EBITDA of approximately $970 million at the midpoint, down from prior guidance of roughly $1.05 billion. 

Despite softer sportsbook metrics, FanDuel maintained its leading U.S. market position during the quarter with 39% online sportsbook gross gaming revenue share and 27% iGaming market share, according to Flutter’s Q1 earnings release. Jackson said the company remains confident in its long-term trajectory despite near-term headwinds and organizational changes.

“We now have the right organizational structure in place to deliver against our strategic priorities,” Jackson said during Wednesday’s earnings call, “giving me confidence in the outlook for the year and our ability to deliver sustainable shareholder long-term value.” 

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