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K-based betting group Flutter Entertainment announced Monday the appointment of Amy Howe as new chief of its FanDuel brand, as the company considers spinning off the US business and listing “a small shareholding in FanDuel” in the US. This comes after the former boss, Matt King, left the position after four years of leadership.
Howe has been working for the company since her appointment as President in February, before becoming interim Chief Executive in July. Her previous position was at Ticketmaster, where she had been Global Chief Operating Officer and led the transformation of modernization of its ticketing platform. She said she led the company from being “paper based to digital” and positioned it for “explosive growth”.
Amy had previously been President at @FanDuel focusing on core commercial functions across the business and brings with her a wealth of valuable experience, having also held senior roles at Ticketmaster and McKinsey in the past pic.twitter.com/a4DMwYVzl8
— Flutter plc (@FlutterPLC) October 4, 2021
In an official press release, Flutter’s Chief Executive Peter Jackson said: “I am delighted to confirm the appointment of Amy as our new US CEO. Since joining the business at the start of this year, she has done an excellent job leading our commercial functions and ensuring that we execute well at this critical phase of growth for our business”.
“The expansion of the US market represents the single most exciting opportunity for Flutter today”, he continued. “Amy’s track record of leadership and experience in scaling a digital business will be invaluable as we look to grow our leadership position there”.
Amy Howe also commented: “I am very pleased to be appointed the CEO of FanDuel at such an exciting time. Since joining the business, I have been very impressed by the quality of our team and the strategic advantages we enjoy in terms of brand reach, product quality and the broad expertise we leverage from being part of the wider Flutter Group. That said, we must avoid complacency and remain focused on executing on our long-term strategy to build the embedded value of the business”.
With the US spinoff in mind, Howe reflected on the North American market and said: “A race to grab a share of the US sports betting market is unsustainable and will end in companies failing. Ultimately this market is going to settle out with three, four, five competitors. There are too many competitors right now to sustain this level of spend”, reports Financial Times.
Since the federal ban on sports betting was lifted in 2018, US and overseas companies have been trying to get into the US gambling market. The competition to attract and keep new sports betting customers has resulted in businesses investing millions in promotional bonuses, offers and advertising campaigns.
In Arizona, where sports betting went live in September, seven companies have already launched gambling operations, with eight more expected to operate there by the end of the year.
Being legal in 23 states, FanDuel has spent around $306 million on marketing in the first half of 2021 and said that, since its takeover by Flutter in 2018, it had benefited from more than $1 billion on marketing investment.
Howe expects FanDuel to be profitable in 2023, depending on the speed at which states regulate sports betting. She also expects the market for the brand to exceed $20 billion in revenues by 2025.
She added that the company was on track to achieve between $1.8-$2 billion in revenues by the end of this year, which “would put us about 50% ahead of the field”.
Last week, as sports betting became legal in the state, FanDuel began operations in Connecticut in alliance with the Mohegan Sun casino, where they inaugurated their temporary sportsbook located in the property. Sports betting will officially launch on October 7.