By Nick Devor

Gambling firm Flutter reported better-than-expected results late Wednesday, though the company lowered its outlook for the full year amid rising costs.

As the parent company of leading U.S. sportsbook FanDuel, Flutter is well-positioned to take advantage of industry tailwinds, like the upcoming World Cup, which is likely to be the largest betting event in history. Flutter looks equally vulnerable to the headwinds, though, including prediction markets in the U.S. that closely mimic sports betting without the arduous state-by-state regulations.

Shares of Flutter have been cut in half since the beginning of the year and are down 20% since the company's last earnings report in late February.

For the first quarter, Flutter reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.22 on revenue of $4.30 billion. Both figures beat estimates from analysts surveyed by FactSet of $1.09 and $4.24 billion, respectively.

But the company lowered its full-year outlook. It now expects a revenue range of $18.31 billion at the midpoint, just short of analysts' $18.34 billion forecast. For adjusted EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, the company is forecasting $2.87, a slight reduction from its previous guidance.

While quarterly revenue was up 17% year-over-year, earnings were down 22%.

The stock was up 5.5% in after-hours trading on the news.

Earnings were impacted by Flutter's investments in its own prediction-market platform called FanDuel Predicts, which launched last quarter in Texas and California, the two largest states in the U.S. where traditional sports betting remains illegal.

That FanDuel Predicts revenue was "non-material" during the quarter, according to the firm, and the company isn't including any revenue from the business in its outlook for the remainder of the year.

CEO Peter Jackson told Barron's in an interview that FanDuel Predicts is more about onboarding customers in states where traditional online sports betting may eventually be legalized.

Apart from FanDuel Predicts, Flutter has also begun market-making activities on a rival prediction-market platform.

In its press release, the firm announced that "in April, we began trialing market-making services on a major, third-party prediction market platform."

This effectively makes Flutter the counterparty in certain prediction market trades. It would mark an evolution for prediction markets, which have traditionally set themselves apart from FanDuel and other sportsbooks because there is no "house." Now the house -- in this case Flutter -- is getting involved.

For now it means that Flutter has a multi-prong approach to prediction markets. "I want to do both," Jackson says. "I want to make money through market-making and I want to acquire customers."

Flutter's market-making is mainly in prediction-market parlays, Jackson says, where bettors link together multiple discrete bets that generate a big payout if each bet proves correct. Parlays are a bread-and-butter product for sportsbooks, generating significant revenue because they are inherently longshot bets with improved odds for the house.

By market-making on prediction markets, Flutter is wielding its information edge. "It's a way of us making money from our pricing expertise. That's ultimately what we do in our core business," Jackson says.

Write to Nick Devor at nicholas.devor@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 06, 2026 16:11 ET (20:11 GMT)

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