Flutter Entertainment

Flutter: Turning AI Stewardship Into Strategy

The Challenge

Flutter Entertainment—the global betting and gaming leader behind FanDuel, Sky Betting & Gaming, and a portfolio of challenger brands—operates where innovation, trust, and regulation collide. With 41-43% U.S. market share and rapid growth across markets, the company faced an inflection point: scale with the reach of a leader while keeping the mindset of a challenger, and balance speed with stewardship in a high-scrutiny industry.

As Flutter accelerated its AI strategy, the stakes intensified. Regulators were tightening standards. Skepticism was rising. And internally, leadership was grappling with fundamental tensions: Should Flutter prioritize market share first, trust later—or trust first, even if it slows growth? How federated should the organization remain? What should be standardized globally versus localized by market? And how should AI be governed—for growth or for trust?

These weren't abstract questions. Active tensions were threatening to fragment strategy and create inconsistency across brands and regions.

The Transformation

We First designed and facilitated an executive strategy session that brought Flutter's senior leadership—including the CEO, regional CEOs, and C-suite—into direct, structured debate around the most consequential stewardship tensions facing the company. Rather than seeking false consensus, we treated tension as productive energy and used it to surface the real operating principles Flutter needed to lead responsibly at scale.

We anchored the work in a polycentric model: do things once where sameness adds value (technology, data, ethics, finance) and empower local markets where difference wins (culture, regulation, customer experience). Across five critical topics—Speed vs. Stewardship, Federalization vs. Centralization, Global Standards vs. Local Regulation, AI for Growth vs. AI for Trust, and Default vs. Optional Protections—we facilitated debate and co-created leadership commitments that defined how Flutter would operate.

From this work, We First produced a comprehensive Cultural Assessment & Stewardship Framework that documented decision thresholds, activation pathways, and a leadership narrative Flutter could carry internally and externally.

The Impact

Flutter now has a leadership operating system that:

• Turns stewardship into a growth lever by establishing trust as the foundation for regulatory permission and long-term market leadership
• Codifies the polycentric model with clarity on what must be centralized and what should stay federated
• Provides decision thresholds for when to bias toward speed versus stewardship, enabling faster, more confident trade-offs
• Establishes AI governance principles that allow innovation while protecting reputation
• Creates a shared leadership language that unifies a federated organization without stifling challenger culture

The result is a company that can scale fast and responsibly—moving at the speed of a challenger while earning the trust of a category leader, setting industry standards rather than waiting for regulation to impose them.