Flutter guides 2026 profit below estimates as US engagement cools and promos misfire

What happened

Flutter ($FLUT), the owner of FanDuel, reported strong 2025 profit growth but guided to much slower 2026 core profit growth than Wall Street expected. Management blamed weaker US customer engagement after a stretch of favourable sports results, a softer finish to the NFL season, and execution issues around promotions/bonuses. They also plan to spend more on a new prediction-markets product with CME Group, which will pressure 2026 profit.

Why the market cares

This is a read-through for the whole US online sports betting space: if the category leader is seeing lower engagement and has to spend more to defend share, the sector’s margins can get squeezed. It also highlights a bigger shift: “prediction markets” are b ...