Flutter CEO: Prediction Markets 'Not a Threat'

While Flutter CEO Peter Jackson projects confidence, the prediction market sector is experiencing explosive growth, with total notional volume exceeding $44 billion in 2025. Platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi generated a combined $38-$39 billion of that volume, showing significant user adoption and liquidity. Jackson's dismissal of the threat is contrasted by Flutter's own strategic moves. The company plans to invest toward the upper end of its $200 million to $300 million guidance to scale its own prediction market platform, FanDuel Predicts, which launched in late 2025. This platform is a key part of Flutter's strategy to acquire customers in states where traditional online sports betting remains illegal. Prediction markets operate on a fundamentally different model than sportsbooks like FanDuel. Instead of betting against the house, users trade peer-to-peer on event outcomes, with prices determined by market supply and demand rather than by oddsmakers. This structure often results in lower fees compared to the "vig" or built-in margin charged by traditional bookmakers. The crypto-native platform Polymarket has seen weekly trading volumes consistently exceed $100 million in early 2026. It recently relaunched in the U.S. after acquiring a CFTC-licensed exchange and has attracted significant venture capital, with one round valuing the company at $9 billion. Meanwhile, Kalshi, which is fully regulated by the CFTC as a designated contract market, has also seen massive growth, with its 2025 trading volume representing a 1,100% increase year-over-year. This regulatory standing distinguishes it from other platforms and has helped it secure partnerships with established retail brokers like Robinhood. Other industry leaders are less dismissive than Jackson. PENN Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden has called prediction markets a "major threat to the industry" and "existential," highlighting the contentious regulatory landscape where platforms argue their CFTC oversight preempts state gambling laws. This has led to numerous legal battles as states and attorneys general sue the platforms. Flutter's Q4 2025 earnings report, which missed revenue expectations, noted a slowdown in customer growth and amounts wagered. While Jackson attributed this to bookmaker-friendly NFL results, the timing coincides with the surge in prediction market activity, fueling investor concern.