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is out. At Fangirl, did she walk? Was she pushed? The exit of Fangil CEO Amy Howe sidelines the publishing of Q1 results of Flutter Entertainment. An abrupt change in US leadership is called as Flutter announces that Fangil will enter a revitalization program to re-engineer its sportsbook status. US proceedings aside, Flutter Q1 was again telling the diverse narratives of the biggest iGaming plc and its challenges and opportunities across multiple markets. Gaming Daily brought to you by OptiMove, the creator of positionless marketing and the number one player engagement solution for iGaming and sports betting operators. We will discuss today all happening with Fanjul and Flutter of course. I'm Fernando Nott, Media Manager for SVC and your host for today where I'm joined again by editor-in-large Ted Memir. Ted how are you today? Very well Fernando, I'm going on the pod with Justin and uh Yeah, need America's finest to discuss America so Justin Byers from SBC Americas, how are you today? I can't complain one bit looking forward to talking about a major shakeup here in the States. It'll be interesting discussion Yeah absolutely as Amy Howe is out at Fangirl. Did she walk? Was she pushed? What do you guys think? What are the top line details of Amy Howe's outing? Like Justin what are your thoughts on this? Yeah, it's interesting situation. Fandle put themselves and put her in. From what it initially looked like, it looked like Amy was being pushed out. But when you look behind everything that they went through logistically to make this happen, it does seem sort of like a parting of ways between both Amy and Fandle itself. She will be compensated while she's out of work right now. And I think that's sort of an indication of how Fandel regarded her and her work. So it's interesting to see how everyone perceives it, but from the outside look at it, it does look like she's being pushed out, but this could have been a mutual decision is what it seems. Look, um. know, flutter is a PLC in transition. And in Europe, we kind of sideline from the gossip or kind of the speculation that surrounds family on a day-to-day basis. How, to me, was... know the former CEO of Live Nation, was brought on, she was very kind of high profile executive to come on to lead FanDuel at its point of of enterprise acceleration and enterprise growth. And I think it's really kind of the reality now that since 2025... Flutter has kind of entered, Flutter is in a new stage, I'm sorry, FANUEL is in new stage in the US and I think that kind of leadership transition is needed. What we think are the main factors, the main contributing factors for house departure, like was there anything in the company's Q1 to cause concern for FANUEL to em get to this decision? Okay, so the lead statement here, yes, it's Amy Howard has left or departed FanDuel. However, this is followed up by Flutter's leadership and Peter Jackson announcing that FanDuel will enter a revitalization project, especially kind of prioritizing uh re-engineering its sportsbook, which leadership to date have kind of looked at kind of like the soft liabilities here of why Fandil isn't going to generate as much profitability as it should, its exposure to certain US markets, and also where it can overhaul the product in terms of loyalty, uh new interactions, new utilities, but also upgrade its overall sportsbook engagement with US audiences. It's a big project to take on, and I think it's going to become an instrumental objective to where Flutter want to take Fandil to. Yeah, it's interesting because it wasn't like fan duel hasn't been doing well or Has it found favor with US betters? That's been a thing. I think what we're seeing here is there's been some stagnation when it comes to the brand. There hasn't been a lot of innovation compared to other operators in the business. And Fandels has sort of been a leader, but has kind of not diversified as well. some of these other operators that are competing in this US market space. We'll have to hashtag wait and see if this change brings a little more diversity, a little more innovation to them. how will the sector in general reflect on how Austin New York will find you? Because on one hand, has firmly established uh itself as a leader in regulated sportsbook, but it was slow to adapt to the PM Jacob Justin. Yeah, it's tough because if I were an executive competitor of Vandals I'd be kind of sweating a little bit to see that in five years Amy went from one of the top positions in the business to no longer holding that role. So there is a little bit of pressure, I think, for some of the other competitors in U.S. gaming. Though it may also send a signal that maybe Fandool's operations or maybe their structure isn't what it might seem to be right now, which is interesting to kind of think because we've known the two-headed horse of DraftKings and Fandool when it comes to the U.S. gaming. But it will be a little interesting to see how some of these other operators respond to this and how leadership at those places also responds. also think you know look at be reflective of this I mean look It has been a morning of drama, but you do step back and say, look, a CEO's file a five-year tenure, it is a kind of substantial period to be involved in the business. And she has seen that enterprise transition for Fandio. It is in that number one position. I think she leaves with very kind of good graces here. uh It's going to be a task for the succession of Christian Jatinski to take on board uh Fandio and these kind of big projects that the leadership wants to implement. our listeners will follow this by following iGamingDaily on social media by subscribing on their preferred podcasting platform by subscribing to all the SBC media newsletters like SBC Americas or SBC News so they can keep up to date with Fanjul Flutter and all the global gaming industry news but how will we monitor Fanjul going forward and what is the succession plan for the company? Yeah, Ted mentioned Christian moving into the role being elevated. Krishnadsky previously held the position as vandal president, now he will transition as CEO. And there's also been some other structural organizational changes. Dan Taylor, who is the CEO of Flutter's International Arms. He'll become president of Flutter Entertainment. So there's a lot of different moving pieces when it comes to this exit of Amy. So I know FanDuel feels like they've got a good structure in place moving forward. We'll see if there'll be any other changes as far as its business segments or how it's delivering its offerings. But there are a couple different changes and now we've got no new fans. which is interesting. They're hiring within which is I think is an important piece of all this. They're not going to bring in somebody from outside like they did with Amy with her transition from Line Nation. So I think they're going to try and keep this thing in half and see how it rolls. Just to make some great points, to me it's always about and especially you know from European side it's kind of that relationship between FanDuel and the international unit and how kind of activities and one part of the business kind of rock the other side. And that tough balance that Fandual has as such a big online gaming PLC, there's no other company like it in its structure. And I think that this year it's where the kind of Fandual, obviously where the Flutter can kind of come back and see growth within each individual market. It's a huge, huge objective to achieve. And I think there the leadership will be put to task on it. Yeah, I think you bring up a great point that there because Fandel is just a one Small part. I guess you can't say small but it's just one part of flutter. This is one piece of the puzzle They've got a lot of other stuff going on So it'll be interesting to see if any of the other brands make any moves as far as leadership or structure Yeah, you describing Fangular Small is just reflects on how big Flutter really is. But yeah, we'll continue to monitor the situation closely. Of course, make sure you are subscribed, like we said, to SVC Media Newsletters and iGamingDaily on your preferred podcasting platform. But right now we're in the sweet at the sweet spot for a little very short ad break. So we will continue discussing Flutter right after this very short break. We'll be right back. gaming teams operate. Discover how operators are using OptiMove's positionless marketing platform to launch personalized CRM campaigns, dynamically change casino lobbies and bet slips, and create engaging game-wide experiences. Learn more at OptiMove.com. Looking at the wider group, Flutter has adjusted down its full year guidance ever so slightly. So what has contributed to this? And how do we judge Flutter's Q1 globally Ted? Okay, in terms of the downturn here, I don't think it's an exact kind of downgrade. It's more that Flutter is re-forecasting its end of year guidance and it's pointing really towards kind of the midpoint of targets, which are going to come up at 18.5 billion corporate revenues and a beta of plus 3 billion by end of year. The reason why it has kind of downgraded is because of these big projects backdrop. Number one and also kind of regulatory changes. Number one being UK taxes coming in. So the RGD coming in from April at 40 percent. Also kind of it's large kind of investment in projects such as the launch of its one app for prediction markets. It's revitalization pro project for the Fandel Sportsbook and key integrations in Italy and Brazil for Betnacional and SNI. Again, this is going back to how big Flutter has become, how many projects it's got in the tailpipe. And the other factor here is that I don't necessarily think that investors are eyeing this year as to be like, oh, Flutter has to hit its guidance. It's much more about can Flutter deliver on these key projects and can it get its engine to roll out as one. And you mentioned SNI, you mentioned Bed Nacional. those are Italy and Brazil respectively. So what have the outcomes been for the companies and ideals for both these companies and do you think it's a sound investment? Are both sound investments, is any of them a mistake, a costly ever maybe? Okay well let me begin with with SNI because I think we're gonna have like a bit of a head bang on like Brazil and where they are for the time though but if you take SNI This is really going to be projected as a true, true growth option for Flutter, in which its projections are very big. It wants to take a dominant share in the Italian online market. It's already doing that wide to sell, but it's still to integrate SNI. The big question here is that once SNI is integrated, which is massive, know, top two of Italy's biggest. retail footprint. It's Flutter can fulfill kind of its objective of becoming the outright leader in that market by end of the year. So yes, look, leadership is pitching big on Italy. I think it's being kind of a bit more conservative in terms of Brazil and where that market is. The revenues came out about 75 million for the quarter. Brazil is still a market in which it has issues in terms of player onboarding and the regulatory framework is yet to be settled in terms of advertising and compliance demands. The other factor is what's the visibility out there for you in South America? mean, what are people coming back to you in terms of Bet Nacional in Brazil? Well, mean, Bet Nacional is definitely not the biggest operator in Brazil. at least as of mid 2025, it had like not even 3 % of the market share in Brazil. Of course you have Betano there, you have KTO Group, Betfair taking most of the market share in Brazil. So I think Bet Nacional was a gamble for Flutter, of course. company that big doesn't make gambles. They, of course, probably studied the opportunity, the price and the context of the Brazilian market and decided to invest there. But I'm not seeing Bet Nacional as one of the biggest players in Brazil so far. And um I don't see it. either in the future. I don't see it in the future. again, think you're right. mean, everything kind of leads towards like you have to have a long term plan in Brazil and you can't just think, you know, year one or year two. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I think for now, Ben Nacional still has a long way to go. But with Flora behind them, if they decide to commit to this investment and if they decide to work it um into one of the... biggest operators in Brazil I think if anyone can make it happen that's Flutter for sure uh but for now It's a hashtag wait and see moment for for national as well. But let's go back to the results to the flutters Q1 global to the global Q1 for flutter. And what do we think is the market sentiment? What are we what are we seeing as the market sentiment towards these results? And where are the biggest concerns for leadership of flutter? I know one thing that kind of caught my eye is the dropping average monthly players for flutters entire portfolio properties i'm not quite sure off the top of my head what the numbers were specifically for fan duel but i know a lot of the operators want to keep those numbers when it comes to average monthly players pretty pretty even and pretty predictable i think seeing that drop maybe is an indication of what's going on with the brand of Fandl itself. But I also noticed there is a difference in net income, which I think is also a factor. I know... when it came to group revenue, things grew, but when it came to income and average monthly players, things kind of took a turn for the worse. those are two things that I saw that stood out when it came to their results. For me, the kind of keyword is like the sentiment. And it seems to be kind of so split. I mean, one of the things is like, if you tune into the analyst call at, you know, this morning, And you can kind of see Peter Jackson and Rob Calder at the CFR kind of saying, look, yes, I know America is important and you want to see us get quotes, juicy quotes on prediction markets. But we've also got this side of the business, which is our international unit. How are we going to be structured in the UK? ah I think in the past kind of... two years the narrative of prediction markets is just hungover, flutter, and what is their movement and what is their presence going to be in this market. I think that's going to be answered kind of in the next six months as to how much of a splash it's willing to do that on accounts that said that it's willing to spend 250 to 300 this year just to develop its one-up product, which is a huge investment, right, to put on bottom line. And again, it's, think that by the end of year, especially with these three projects coming in. I think this will be a very, very big accountability on leadership. I won't be surprised if there's one or two more exits at the top table. Okay, then you better have an investment plan if you're working at Flutter because Ted is putting your job. When we last put the spotlight on Flutter, we asked whether activist involvement and leadership pressure could influence Flutter's future direction. So now we have Q1's results and the share price is still falling. So what is the outlook for Flutter? which is of course IK's biggest listed operator. You take that one, Thank you, Justin. It's funny, as journalists we track narratives, right? And in 2024, Flutter was a safe bet, right? and it wasn't like, you know, it was a steady ship. It knew kind of its trajectory. It knew what it had to do in each market. And in the space of 12 to 14 months, everything's changed. You know, is it because of the ban in India? Is it because, you know, regulation pan out in Brazil as it was supposed to? But it always had its also comfort blanket that in the US it was between them and DraftKings but now you've got these these two new players in the blocks and kind of Kelshe and Polymarket that it's kind of being speculated against and I don't think it's comfortable in that in in that kind of status now um I It's to me flutter is one of the most kind of it, you know, regardless of its status in our game. I think it's one of most intriguing business stories in the world and it's one that know it's going to be interesting to see how it pans out and also not just in terms of the year but in terms of what its projections you know two to three years and can it maintain this kind of you know can it maintain its portfolio and its enterprise unit i'm not so sure i definitely agree with that said it's it's an interesting spot for the company because You see there are some points where you're like, okay, there's a little bit of concern But you also have to realize this is a part of business and there's also going to be more opportunity For Fandor and Flutter moving forward. We've got Maine opening up as a online casino market here stateside later this year that might not mean much just because of the size of Maine, but There is opportunity to kind of grow for the business there And then like you said about prediction markets head that that's something they're gonna have to really kind of focus on because that is an opportunity to get into states that don't offer regulated online sports betting to kind of solidify a footprint there. So FanDole has to take advantage of this window that they're in. But like we've seen DraftKings prediction market product is has been pushed and it seems to be a little bit more up to date as well as Fanatics they have their own standalone platform. But when it comes to the prediction market stuff, FanDole predicts is sort of just there and not really competing it seems like. Yeah, I guess we can say that these new states are not going to be their main focus, but uh it's definitely helping the operation in America. But with that terrible pun, I'd like to thank Justin Byers and Ted Memir for your participation in this podcast. If you want to read more from them, make sure you subscribe to SBC America's SBC News and all the SBC media newsletters. That's been all for today. We'll keep... open for Flutter and Fangil as things develop we'll hashtag wait and see. Thank you very much Ania McDonald for producing this episode, I'm Fernando Nott and to our listeners out there we'll see you in the next one. Goodbye. you