Flutter’s UK casino revenue grows 12% but 40% duty pulls International EBITDA down 14%

Flutter’s third-quarter results show its UK and Ireland online casino business growing while International profit fell after remote gaming duty nearly doubled. The biggest operator in the UK and Ireland has now cut guidance again, paused buybacks and turned to debt reduction under a new chief executive.

Casino growth could not offset the higher UK duty

Flutter’s online casino arm in the UK and Ireland kept growing in the third quarter. Revenue there rose to $540m. Sportsbook revenue fell 6% to $309m. Overall, the region was up 4% at $889m.

Profit moved the other way. International revenue was flat year on year at $2,419m, yet the division’s earnings dropped sharply. Flutter blamed the higher UK gaming tax, partly offset by cost savings in the UK and Ireland and in Brazil.

Remote gaming duty rose from 21% to 40% in April 2026. When the UK Budget was announced, Flutter estimated the new taxes would cut adjusted EBITDA by about $320m in 2026 before mitigation. The quarter shows casino growth in the group’s home market without a matching rise in profit.

The pressure is visible across the group. Revenue grew 2% to $3.87bn in the three months to 30 September. Group adjusted EBITDA fell 25% to $360m.

Compared with the $789m loss in the same quarter of 2025, the deficit widened by 46%. Flutter owns 56% of Flutter Brazil, so $537m of the post-tax Brazil charge falls to it. A $105m rise in provisions for legal loss contingencies also added to the loss. The quarterly filing includes a $541m goodwill write-down on Brazil, where trading stopped in September 2026. A year earlier, the group wrote off $517m of Junglee goodwill after leaving India in August 2025. Its Betfair business in Brazil has closed, leaving Betnacional as its only Brazilian brand.

Repeated downgrades push the new chief towards debt reduction

The latest cut also lowers the adjusted EBITDA midpoint by $160m to $2.495bn. On 5 August the revenue midpoint had already been reduced by $395m to $17.91bn. The adjusted EBITDA midpoint was cut by $210m to $2.655bn at that time.

International guidance has been trimmed too. Its adjusted EBITDA midpoint fell by $115m to $2.09bn. Poor sports results in Q3 and Q4 to date have cost $170m of revenue and $115m of adjusted EBITDA.

Dan Taylor, previously head of the International division, became group chief executive on 1 October 2026. He took over from Peter Jackson. The share repurchase programme is now on hold for the foreseeable future. Cash will instead go into organic investment and reducing debt.

For UK and European online casino, the combination of weaker guidance and a focus on the balance sheet points to continued cost pressure at the market leader. Further tax changes are already scheduled. A 25% remote betting rate takes effect in April 2027, and Flutter’s Budget-day estimate puts the hit from the new taxes at $540m of adjusted EBITDA in 2027 before mitigation.