Dive Brief:

• Global sports betting and gambling firm Flutter Entertainment announced Rob Coldrake, CFO of its Flutter International segment, will be stepping into the role of group CFO “with immediate effect,” according to a Friday release on the London Stock Exchange. Coldrake will succeed Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson in the role. 
• In a separate announcement, the Dublin, Ireland- and New York-based company said it had completed its transition for its primary listing on the New York Stock Exchange, following the passing of a shareholder resolution at the beginning of the month.
• Following the listing transition and the “consequent need for extensive executive management time to be spent in the United States, the Board has recently engaged in a discussion with Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson concerning his ability to meet that requirement in light of his family commitments in the U.K,” the company said of the CFO swap, according to the Friday release. As such, the board concluded “it is in the Company’s best interest” for Edgecliffe-Johnson to step down as finance chief.

Dive Insight:

Edgecliffe-Johnson joined Flutter — which operates international sports betting and gambling brands including FanDuel, Sky Betting & Gaming and PokerStars — as its finance chief in 2023, after previously serving as CFO and group head of strategy for InterContinental Hotels Group, according to a company press release at the time.  

His successor Coldrake has served as Flutter International’s CFO since joining the company in 2020, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before Flutter, he held a variety of roles for global travel and leisure experience company TUI over his 14-year carer at the company, most recently serving as its CFO, markets and airlines.

Coldrake will take the gambling company’s financial reins as it shifts its focus to the U.S. market, which represents the company’s top market for growth and expansion. The transition of its primary listing is a “key milestone” for the company as its FanDuel brand “continues to scale rapidly and the U.S. becomes an even greater part of our business,” Flutter CEO Peter Jackson said during the company’s Q1 2024 earnings call on May 14.

Flutter first listed on the NYSE in January, a step that came as its FanDuel brand edged out competitors such as American platform DraftKings as the market leader for the sports betting space, according to a CNBC report. As of the fourth quarter 2023, FanDuel reported a 43% market share based on gross revenue and a 51% share based on net revenue, CNBC reported.  

For the first quarter of 2024 ended Mar. 31, FanDuel’s market share based on net gaming revenue for the U.S. hit 52%, according to Flutter’s earnings results. For the fourth quarter, the company reported a 16% jump in overall revenue to $3.4 billion,  while U.S. revenues surged by 32% to reach $1.4 billion.

“Our US segment is considered to be the largest growth opportunity for the Group,” Flutter said in a recent securities filing. The company pointed to the 2018 overturning of key gambling legislation by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has led several states to legalize and regulate sports gambling. As of March 31, the company’s FanDuel brand was active in 22 such states, as well as five states which have legalized and regulated iGaming.

Americans spent a record $120 billion on legal sports betting last year, representing rising opportunity for brands, including FanDuel and its closest U.S. competitor, DraftKings. The two platforms jockey for space in states such as Illinois, where together both companies accounted for 90% of the online sports bets placed during the first four months of this year, according to a report from Forbes.

Both platforms also saw their stocks dip after the Illinois State Senate advanced a bill that would increase the effective tax rate on sports betting companies in the state, changing it from a flat 15% tax to a graduated tax structure of up to 40% of gross gambling revenues, according to Forbes. For FanDuel and DraftKings, that could increase their effective tax rates in the state to approximately 35%.

Flutter declined to comment beyond the details included in its press release.