Apology tour
FanDuel ‘needs to get its mojo back,’ says Flutter CEO
Peter Jackson says FanDuel entered 2026 “smaller than it should have been.”
In +More: Polymarket fully launches in the US.
Earnings: Super Group, Brightstar, Aristocrat and more report.
Venture playground: UA fund 23 Broadway is in focus.
Hard Rock Bet is growing – we know you know! And we want to bring in some more maestros to make beautiful music in our Sportsbook. You need to be among the very best in the industry to be considered for these roles. Are you up to it?
Mojo working?
Is it too late now to say sorry? FanDuel messed up its generosity efforts in Q4 to such an extent that it exited last year “with a smaller business than we would have planned to have,” according to Flutter Entertainment CEO Peter Jackson.
Speaking at a JP Morgan investor event late last week, Jackson said FanDuel “didn’t operate as effectively as we should have done.”
“The issues, particularly around generosity, were a problem,” he added. “We ended up starting this year with a smaller customer base than anticipated.”
’Cause I’m missing more than just your body: Jackson went on to say that FanDuel, and by extension Flutter as a whole, needs to “get our mojo back and show that we can keep growing our share and help grow the category.”
“We are still the largest player in America. We’re profitable,” he added.
I know you know that I made those mistakes maybe once or twice: The comments came off the back of the news earlier last week of FanDuel CEO Amy Howe’s departure, replaced by Christian Genetski, and with international chief Dan Taylor being given extra responsibilities across the group.
So let me, oh, let me redeem, oh, redeem, oh, myself tonight: “I think from a sports perspective, there were a few things that we didn’t execute on very well last year,” said Jackson.
“We’ve identified that. We recognized it, we got to grips with it. We’ve made the changes.”
“I think we’re beginning to see the benefits of that come through.”
I’ll go, I’ll go and then you go, you go out and spill the truth: Alongside the organizational changes at FanDuel, CFO Rob Coldrake also revealed that Flutter had parachuted in personnel from Sportsbet in Australia.
That has been done to “make our generosity deployment more efficient, so we get more bang for our buck in the US.”
“We’re thinking about taking a much more customer-centric sort of back-to-basics approach for customers,” Jackson added.
“We’re tapping into being a bit cheeky, into where the conversations flow from a customer perspective.”
I’ll take every single piece of the blame if you want me to: Jackson insisted that FanDuel has partly self-corrected, saying it has imported evidently successful loyalty efforts from iCasino into the sportsbook.
“I think we showed in March when we did a small bit of generosity that there’s a real appetite, real latent demand for the FanDuel-branded sports,” he said.
“And we’re going to lean into that and take advantage of it.”
And by once or twice, I mean maybe a couple of hundred times: But the benefits of the renewed efforts won’t be in evidence until H2. As the JP Morgan team pointed out during the fireside chat, Flutter is guiding to FanDuel EBITDA dropping in Q2 from $400m to ~$102m at midpoint.
Coldrake said the company “always assumed” Q226 would be lighter, due in part to the comp on sports results and the launch in Arkansas.
But he also said the company would be spending $60m-$70m on prediction markets during the quarter.
Then there is the World Cup, where Coldrake said there was a “bit of a misconception” that it was a “huge profit-making machine.”
“We view it more as a customer acquisition event,” he added. “But that doesn’t tend to drive incremental EBITDA.”
Can we both say the words and forget this? On the much-broadcasted questions around US handle, Jackson said that “to try and get too forensic about what’s happening month to month is tricky because there’s a lot of noise.”
“I think there are questions around whether it has slowed down going into the back end of the year,” he said.
“I think it’s hard to read it. I think we’ll know more as we get into the back part of this year.”
Coldrake added that FanDuel did see “some improvement” in March and that the company has “baked in a graduated improvement” through 2026. “It’s not heroic assumptions,” he added.
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+More
Polymarket has fully opened access to its US iOS exchange without requiring a waitlist, more than six months after first launching its CFTC-regulated platform in the market, according to InGame. The broader launch marks another step in Polymarket’s regulated US expansion following its acquisition of licensed exchange and clearing infrastructure.
Whether forecast: Staying with InGame, the site reported this week that ForecastEx has quietly stopped offering sports event contracts, with no apparent trading activity since February 13 and the platform’s sports tab now removed. ForecastEx still offers weather, political, financial and technology-related event contracts.
Data points
US commercial gaming: The AGA said US commercial gaming revenue reached a record $78.6bn in 2025, up 9.1% YoY, with 34 states and Washington, DC posting all-time highs. Including tribal casinos, total gross gaming revenue likely approached $125bn. The Las Vegas Strip remained the country’s largest casino market at $8.64bn in revenue, while Nebraska recorded the fastest annual growth.
E+M PRO
Super Group
Opening up a continent: Super Group opened 2026 with a record quarter, posting $612m in revenue, up 18% YoY, and $152m in adj. EBITDA, a 36% YoY increase, as iCasino led recurring revenue and an 18% jump in monthly active customers drove margin expansion to 25%. Notably, the company disclosed for the first time the EBITDA it derives from Africa – $98m vs. the $73m from the rest of the business.
See the Earnings Extra edition sent out this morning (PRO subscribers only).
Aristocrat Leisure
All cylinders: A strong first half saw revenue rise 6% in constant currency to A$3.03bn ($2.19bn) and normalized NPATA rising 16% in constant currency to A$794m. Aristocrat Gaming gained share in North America and ANZ, Product Madness held 23% of social casino slots, and Interactive grew 7% on iLottery strength.
See the Earnings Extra edition to be sent to PRO subscribers later today.
Earnings in brief
Brightstar Lottery: Q1 revenue of $587m was up 1% YoY, though down 4% at constant currency. This was driven by 3.1% Italy same-store sales growth, positive US mix and favorable FX, partially offset by higher service revenue amortization and the UK.
Adj. EBITDA rose 15% to $287m (5% constant currency), reflecting OPtiMa cost savings and operational discipline. Free cash flow was $55m.
The company returned over $70m to shareholders and made the final €1.43bn Italy Lotto license payment in April.
FY26 guidance was reaffirmed, with revenue forecast at $2.5bn-$2.55bn and adj. EBITDA of $1.16bn-$1.19bn.
High Roller Technologies: The company confirmed the planned launch of a ROLR-branded prediction markets product alongside its Q1 earnings, which showed net revenues falling 35% YoY to $3.4m, reflecting a deliberate exit from certain markets and reduced customer acquisition spend in iCasino. Adj. EBITDA improved by $1.7m to a loss of $1.3m.
Playstudios: Q1 revenue of $58.4m was down 6.9% YoY while net loss widened to $10.7m from $2.9m. Adj. EBITDA fell to $3.6m from $12.5m amid continued pressure in social casino. DTC revenue surged 150% to $12.4m, while the company highlighted growth initiatives including Tetris Block Party and its playSWEEPS platform.
DoubleDown Interactive: Q1 revenue rose 12.7% YoY to $94.1m. Growth was driven by WHOW Games contributions, expanding DTC sales and continued momentum at SuprNation, where revenue climbed 30% following the launch of the Los Vegas brand. Adj. EBITDA increased 24% to $38.2m. with DTC revenue reaching 44.2% of social casino revenue. On the earnings call, CFO Joe Sigrist said it was “really not possible to say anything more” about the take-private offer from major shareholder DoubleU Games.
Bet-at-home.com: Q1 gross betting and gaming revenue of €11.3m was down 16% YoY as higher Austrian betting taxes weighed on online sports-betting activity. EBITDA before special items slipped to a loss of €149k from positive €1.6m in the prior-year period.
Catena Media: Q1 revenue from continuing operations increased 26% YoY to €12.3m while adj. EBITDA soared 191% to €2.7m, with margins improving to 22%. NDCs climbed 58% to 34,573, driven by strong casino growth in North America. Catena also highlighted prediction markets as a major sports affiliation opportunity, citing nationwide accessibility and rising customer interest.
Galaxy Entertainment: Q1 normalized EBITDA of HK$3.6bn ($460m), up 21% YoY and flat sequentially, as Macau visitation and gaming demand remained resilient. Net revenue increased 11% to HK$12.4bn, while Galaxy Macau posted 99% hotel occupancy. The group also highlighted continued ramp-up at Capella at Galaxy Macau and ongoing Phase 4 development plans.
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Venture playground
Funding news
Spinlab Studio
Spin class: Waterhouse VC has secured a three-year option to acquire an interest in Spinlab Studio, a no-code iGaming platform targeting operators looking to launch online betting and casino businesses without building complex backend infrastructure.
Spinlab Studio is designed to reduce the time and cost associated with launching an iGaming operation by streamlining integrations across payments, games, compliance and back-end systems.
The platform also includes built-in responsible gambling and compliance functionality aimed at operators entering regulated markets.
You spin me right round: Waterhouse VC CIO Tom Waterhouse said the company viewed Spinlab as one of the faster-growing infrastructure platforms in the sector, addressing the challenge of helping operators bring products to market more efficiently and quickly without the usual complexity.
Spinlab co-founder Leon Lanen said the platform was designed to simplify a historically fragmented and expensive launch process for operators. “Launching an iGaming operation is still too complex and expensive,” Lanen said.
“Spinlab Studio removes that friction so operators can get to market quickly and focus on building their business,” he added.
“We aim to do for the iGaming industry what Shopify did for ecommerce.”
Since launching in January 2026, Spinlab said it has onboarded around 30 operators, with subscription plans beginning at approximately $1,299 per month.
The company also recently completed an oversubscribed seed funding round backed by founders and early investors from a major listed European iGaming technology business.
Elastics
Stretch: Elastics has raised $2m in a pre-seed funding round as the Warsaw-based company looks to develop AI agents tailored for prediction markets and automated trading workflows.
The round was led by French venture capital firm Frst and included backing from several technology-focused angel investors, including Mati Staniszewski, Piotr Dabkowski and Bartek Pucek.
Automatic for the people: Founded in April 2025 by Szymon Pawica and Mateusz Brodowicz, Elastics describes itself as an AI-native operating system for prediction markets. The platform uses AI agents that allow traders to automate workflows through natural-language prompts.
Pawica said the company is aiming to democratize infrastructure typically reserved for quantitative hedge funds.
“The quant edge at hedge funds comes down to people and infrastructure. We think AI can now replicate most of that and make it available to anyone,” he said.
Elastics said the new capital will primarily be used to hire additional AI and quantitative research talent in Poland.
In focus – 23 Broadway
Who are you? 23 Broadway is a user acquisition financing company powered by AI, which founder Jordan Tuch says provides capital and modeling that “lets operators scale their performance marketing without tying up their own balance sheet.” The company spun out of Betty.
What’s the big idea? Tuch says 23 Broadway brings the capital, team and the tech in one package. “We finance acquisition spend directly against the cohorts it produces, so operators can grow without tying up their balance sheet, without giving the upside to affiliates and without raising another equity round just to fund marketing.”
The result is operators reaching their next milestone with materially less dilution than they’d otherwise face.
In the background is Atlas, an underwriting platform, which uses operators’ first-party data to identify what valuable players actually look like and feeds those signals to the ad platforms in near real time.
“Better signals mean better acquisition, which means better cohort economics, which is what makes the financing work,” says Tuch.
“The capital is the surface. The team and the model are what make it work.”
Funding backgrounder: 23 Broadway closed a $3m seed round in March, co-led by Betty and Will Ventures.
Growth company news
FantasySpin and FastDraft have announced a merger aimed at creating an expanded fantasy sports platform combining daily fantasy sports and best ball products across North America. The combined business said it will operate in 38 US states and Canada, targeting a broader fantasy sports audience through a unified product offering. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The AI-powered betting agent for messaging apps ChatBet has launched the third version of its platform for WhatsApp. ChatBet allows players to bet through messaging apps and is now live with multiple operators in Latin America.
Octoplay has launched in Georgia through a strategic partnership with Adjarabet, the country’s leading operator. 🇬🇪
Upcoming earnings
May 14: Gambling.com, Bragg Gaming
May 20: Better Collective (earnings)
May 21: Better Collective (call), GiG Software, CIRSA
Soft2Bet Evaluates Alberta Market Entry to Strengthen Canadian Footprint
Soft2Bet has announced its intention to enter the Alberta iGaming market, pending regulatory approval. Leveraging success from its Ontario brand, ToonieBet, the company eyes a market projected to exceed $700 million at maturity. Soft2Bet is currently preparing for technical requirements under the iGaming Alberta Act, overseen by the AiGC and AGLC.
“We are committed to delivering localized, engaging experiences that reflect the unique preferences of each market,” said David Yatom Hay, General Counsel, Soft2Bet.
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