Flutter Entertainment has appointed Kevin Harrington as its new CEO for the UK and Ireland, succeeding Ian Brown and reporting to the International CEO, Dan Taylor.
This move is part of a minor organizational restructuring by the industry giant.
Following the restructuring, Flutter will adopt a dual-division design, keeping its US operations in one division and all other global operations in another. Currently, as shown in its third-quarter report, Flutter's organizational structure is divided into US, UK and Ireland, Australia, and International divisions. Now, all operations in the UK and Ireland, Asia-Pacific, Southern Europe and Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and Brazil will be consolidated under Flutter International.
Previously, Flutter had the New York Stock Exchange as its primary listing venue, with London as a secondary listing venue, and it completely exited the Euronext Dublin.
Clearly, these moves indicate a refocusing of efforts towards the US - understandable, as its third-quarter performance showed a growth of over 50%, with revenues accounting for 38.5% of the operator's total revenue.
The past two years of transformation at Flutter have been exhilarating—former UK and Ireland CEO Ian Brown Harrington will serve as Flutter's CEO for the UK and Ireland (despite the restructuring), with a career spanning nearly 20 years. However, his first position in the gaming industry was in December 2012 when he joined Betfair as the UK Commercial Director. He worked there for nearly three and a half years before holding a similar position at Paddy Power Betfair until January 2018, then moving to Flutter for his first role. Here, Harrington served as the Managing Director of Betfair from January 2018 to August 2020, later becoming the International CCO until August 2023.
Subsequently, he became the CEO of PokerStars, holding the position for less than a year and a half before taking on his current role.
Meanwhile, Brown stated that the company's restructuring marked the time for him to leave and pursue other aspirations. He had been CEO for over two years, with three additional CEO roles at Rentalcars.com, BookingGo, and UKFast during his career.
Flutter CEO Peter Jackson said: "Ian has been tremendously successful during his tenure at Flutter. He has transformed the business in the UK and Ireland on nearly every metric, and his achievements will be hard to replicate. Kevin's promotion is well-deserved, and as we enter the next phase of our growth plan, the business will be in good hands."
Harrington himself stated: "I am incredibly proud to have the opportunity to take over and run the company I joined over a decade ago. I hope to continue to work hard to make Flutter the clear market leader in the UK and Ireland, maintaining the high standards we've set—responsible gambling is at the core of all our work."
Meanwhile, Ian Brown added: "The past two years of transformation have been exhilarating. I am particularly proud that we have carved out a niche in a challenging market, investing in customer innovation and our employees. Kevin has a deep understanding of our business, and I believe he will leverage strong momentum to take Flutter UKI to new heights.
"I want to express my sincere thanks to Peter and the entire Flutter team, as this has been one of the most valuable experiences of my career."
