FanDuel CEO Amy Howe has been shown the door after five years with the company.
Company president Christian Genetski is set to take over her post in leading the nation’s largest sportsbook.
Howe guided FanDuel through a period of rapid growth as sports betting and online gambling expanded across numerous U.S. states.
FanDuel will pay Howe $4.37 million in severance — more than four times her base salary — representing two years’ worth of combined base pay and target annual bonus.
The leadership shakeup comes as shares of FanDuel’s parent company, Flutter, dropped 2.5 percent in Wednesday afternoon trading. The stock has been struggling more broadly, down nearly 60 percent over the past year as investors pull back from gaming companies amid rising competition from prediction markets and concerns about consumer spending tied to higher gas prices and inflation.
Rival DraftKings has also taken a hit, with its shares down roughly 30 percent over this same stretch.
The warning signs surfaced in February when Flutter issued 2026 guidance that fell short of Wall Street expectations due to reduced betting activity.
Following that report, CEO Peter Jackson told CNBC the company plans to invest $300 million into FanDuel Predicts, its in-house prediction platform — a move he acknowledged would weigh on its 2026 outlook.
“We saw some slightly softer performance in Q4, and we’re reflecting that in the guidance we’re putting in place for this year,” Jackson said.
He added that the company likely should have spent more on marketing and promotions in an increasingly competitive environment, noting a lack of compelling NFL player narratives to foster betting engagement.
Howe, one of the few women leading a major gambling company, previously held roles at Live Nation and McKinsey. She built a reputation for steering companies through periods of transition and scrutiny.
During her tenure at FanDuel, she took a prominent stance on responsible gaming — declining to advertise in college stadiums or pursue name, image and likeness (NIL) deals with college athletes.
She was recently named a 2026 CNBC Changemaker and, speaking at an April event, emphasized her personal connection to the company.
“We’ve all worked with leaders who are low integrity, who look out for themselves,” Howe said at a CNBC Changemakers event in April. “The ability to be the face of a company and a sector, but lead in a way that is authentic to me is, at 54, a very powerful thing to be able to do.”
