Flutter Posts $1.1bn Quarterly Loss After Brazil Ban

Flutter Entertainment, the owner of FanDuel, Paddy Power and Sky Bet, lost $1,148m in the third quarter of 2026. Most of it came from a write-down in Brazil, where a government ban on online betting forced the company to close its local business at the end of September.

The results release, published in New York on Wednesday, November 4, shows revenue up 2% to $3,874m for the three months to September 30. The net loss was 46% bigger than the $789m Flutter lost a year earlier, and the company cut its full-year outlook again.

Brazil’s Ban Becomes an $873m Charge

The biggest single line is a non-cash impairment of $873m on the Brazilian business. That includes $541m of goodwill and $296m of long-lived assets, with the trademark alone written down by $122m. Flutter blamed what it called a challenging trading environment and the Provisional Measure banning sports betting and iGaming, which Brazil issued on September 25.

Flutter shut its Brazilian operations the next day, on September 26. It has also closed Betfair in the country and kept Betnacional as its sole Brazilian brand. Brazil revenue was already falling before the ban took effect, down 31% to $60m in the quarter.

Why the Headline Loss Overstates Flutter’s Share

Flutter owns 56% of Flutter Brazil, so only $537m of the post-tax impairment lands on its own shareholders. The net loss attributable to Flutter shareholders was $862m, with $286m falling on the minority partners. The loss per share was $4.90, against $3.91 a year earlier.

A second charge came from Australia. Flutter booked a $105m provision to help settle what its filing calls the Fast Code Class Action, a class action lawsuit in that country.

Sports Results Cost Another $300m

The guidance cut is mostly about the scoreboard. Flutter now expects 2026 revenue of $17.61bn at the midpoint, down $300m from the $17.91bn it forecast with its second-quarter numbers in August. Adjusted EBITDA guidance fell by $160m to $2.495bn.

Outside the US, customer-friendly results at the start of the soccer season in the UK and Southern Europe cost about $131m of revenue in the quarter alone. Results have kept going against the company in the fourth quarter so far, in both the US and International. Sports results account for $170m of the cut to International revenue guidance and the Brazil closure for another $70m.

The Buyback Goes on Hold

Group adjusted EBITDA fell 25% to $360m. Net debt was $10,656m at the end of September, and debt rose to 4.6 times EBITDA from 3.7 times at the end of 2025. Flutter has paused its share buyback “for the foreseeable future” so it can pay down debt.

FanDuel Grows but Earns Almost Nothing

The US business is still growing. Revenue rose 6% to $1,455m, with sportsbook up 4% to $817m and iGaming up 8% to $572m. Handle climbed 13%, and Flutter says its US sportsbook took market share.

Profit is another matter. US adjusted EBITDA was $3m, down 94% from $51m, after spending on FanDuel’s prediction market product and the launch of FanDuel in Alberta in July. FanDuel took a 23% share of Alberta casino gross gaming revenue in its first quarter there.

Prediction Markets Push Up Ad Costs

FanDuel Predicts had 66,000 average monthly players in the quarter and $119m of volume, after Flutter moved all its sports contracts to Crypto.com. Flutter says prediction markets have had little effect on its existing customers’ betting so far, but rising ad spend by prediction market operators is pushing up its own media costs. That squeeze is the other side of the FanDuel and DraftKings prediction market pivot.

Taylor’s First Results as Chief Executive

These were the first quarterly results under new chief executive Dan Taylor. “Our job now is to make more of those advantages,” he said, pointing to Flutter’s brands and scale. He added that “Delivering against those priorities will require faster execution, tough decisions and disciplined investment.”

The cost plan behind that is $500m in savings by 2029 from operating costs and capital spending, using AI and fewer management layers. It isn’t a new number, though. Flutter’s presentation says the target was first announced in August, and it sits on top of the UK restructuring and job cuts already under way.

The UK Tax Bill Lands

The UK is where costs bite hardest. Remote gaming duty rose from 21% to 40%, the main reason International adjusted EBITDA dropped 14% to $435m. In Brazil, the ban wrote off $873m of value in a quarter when the business there brought in $60m of revenue.