FanDuel Is Spending To Win NFL Season Back As Penn Sits Out

The post FanDuel Is Spending To Win NFL Season Back As Penn Sits Out appeared first on SportsHandle. The American sportsbook industry spent three years telling investors that the promotional land grab had ended. The 2026 NFL season tests how true that claim ever was. Flutter Entertainment made the loudest move. The company accepted roughly $385 million in revenue and $270 million in adjusted EBITDA as the cost of sharpening FanDuel’s proposition and restarting sportsbook growth. Guidance carries the bill: Group revenue guidance dropped $395 million to a $17.91 billion midpoint Adjusted EBITDA fell $210 million to $2.655 billion US EBITDA landed at $760 million, a 22% cut from a quarter earlier Where that money goes matters to every operator heading into football season. CFO Rob Coldrake told analysts on the Q2 call that promotional generosity would run “closer to 6%” of handle, not the 7% some on the sell side had modeled. He framed the number as a return-driven call rather than a permanent reset. FanDuel already spent 5.4% of handle on promotions in Q2, up 140 basis points year over year. Jackson Likes His Own Odds Better Than His Guidance Does Outgoing CEO Peter Jackson went further at an Oppenheimer fireside chat Tuesday. He suggested the early read on that spending beats the company’s own forecast. Flutter’s second-half outlook assumes roughly 5% growth in US online sports betting revenue. Jackson leaned toward the over on that figure while stressing that the company prefers to stay conservative. Revenue tracked close to double digits through May. June dragged the rate back toward 5%. How FanDuel Talked Itself Into Spending Again Flutter’s diagnosis of last football season reads unusually harshly for a market leader. Jackson blamed a thin NFL schedule and weak player narratives, then conceded that the company mishandled its own customer offer. Pulling back on promotions cost it. FanDuel carried a smaller sportsbook into 2026 than it should have. The second quarter exposed the gap: Sportsbook revenue fell 15% to $1.039 billion US revenue dropped 6% to $1.683 billion FanDuel still kept 39% of sportsbook GGR share and 27% in iGaming Management also swapped its scoreboard, elevating monthly player growth and ARPU above margin expansion. Jackson cast the decision as familiar ground, comparing it to Flutter’s choice to keep funding FanDuel through 2019 and 2020 over objections at the time. Investors read it differently. Shares closed down 11.5% at $92.91 on results day, near a 52-week low, alongside a $296 million net loss and leverage at 4.3x. DraftKings Calls It ‘A Blip on the Radar’ Boston shrugged. CEO Jason Robins dismissed rivals’ increased spending as a blip on the radar and argued that DraftKings historically converts promotional dollars more efficiently. He refused to trade handle share for profitability and said the company has room to spend more if the data justifies it. DraftKings paid its own toll last quarter. Revenue fell 5% to $1.443 billion on customer-friendly results and heavier promotional reinvestment across sportsbook and predictions acquisition. The operator maintained full-year guidance of $6.5 billion to $6.9 billion in revenue and $700 million to $900 million in adjusted EBITDA. Volume never became the problem: July handle climbed 20% year over year, with similar momentum carrying into August. “I think it’s going to be a big NFL season,” Robins told analysts. Penn and BetMGM Take the Cheap Seats Penn Entertainment offers the clearest counterexample, and analysts rewarded it. The operator pulled marketing away from lower-value and unprofitable segments, treating reduced spend as a deliberate trade of near-term revenue for margin. Citizens analyst Jordan Bender endorsed that posture as the right one during an uncertain stretch for online betting. Penn then posted its narrowest digital loss since it scaled into online sports betting, $9.5 million, against record retail results and revenue up 5.2% to $1.857 billion. BetMGM sits between the two camps. CEO Adam Greenblatt told analysts that the company keeps investing in players but aims that money at the right ones. He called rivals’ prediction-market spending commercially irrational. The numbers show the discipline and its price. BetMGM grew Q2 net revenue 3% to $711 million while adjusted EBITDA slid 15% to $74 million. Online sports revenue stayed flat at $228 million on 2% handle growth, monthly actives fell 3%, and the company now guides toward the low end of both full-year ranges. The State Numbers Explain the Urgency Nothing in the second quarter suggests bettors went anywhere. June proved it, and then punished the books for it. New York took a record $2.26 billion in wagers, up 36.4%, then watched revenue fall 43.3% to $117 million as hold sank to 5.19% New Jersey set a June handle record at $917.2 million, up 16%, and revenue dropped 37.7% to $57.3 million on a 6.24% hold Pennsylvania and Michigan each surrendered 53.7% of their revenue July reversed the picture. New York’s hold recovered to 11.42% and produced $214.7 million on $1.88 billion in handle, even as volume slipped below $2 billion for the first time in 11 months. Revenue still climbed 37.8% year over year, giving the state its first $200 million July since launch. That single dataset makes both arguments at once. Demand keeps compounding, margin flips month to month, and generosity remains the one input operators actually control. Bettors comparing welcome offers across the best sportsbooks should see the results of that math on their screens by September. Jackson Leaves Before the Bet Settles Timing complicates the plan. Flutter’s revised guidance also absorbs a $50 million EBITDA hit from an NFL season that starts a week later than the company modeled. Jackson exits at the end of September. Flutter International CEO Dan Taylor takes the job Oct. 1, and Jackson stays on as an adviser through year-end. That sequence removes the executive who authorized the spend roughly four weeks into the season it aims to win. Taylor inherits the invoice and the scoreboard. The post FanDuel Is Spending To Win NFL Season Back As Penn Sits Out appeared first on SportsHandle.