Key points:
- Harrington will take over from current UK & Ireland CEO Ian Brown
- The move comes ahead of restructuring efforts by Flutter, which will see its International division come to encompass its UK & Ireland and Australia division among others
Flutter Entertainment has hired Kevin Harrington as its new UK & Ireland CEO, as he succeeds Ian Brown and reports to International CEO Dan Taylor. This move is part of a slight organisational restructure for the industry giant.
The restructure will see Flutter take on a two-division design, keeping its US arm of the business in one division and all other global operations in the other. At present, and as seen in its Q3 report, Flutter's organisational structure divides between its US division, UK and Ireland division, Australia division and International division. Now, all operations from the UK & Ireland, Asia-Pacific, Southern Europe & Africa, Central & Eastern Europe and Brazil will fall under Flutter International.
The move follows Flutter's move to the New York Stock Exchange as its primary listing, leaving London as a non-primary listing and leaving the Dublin stock exchange (Euronext Dublin) entirely. Clearly, these moves show a recentralisation of its efforts towards the US - understandable, as its Q3 results showed growth of over 50% and revenue that accounted for 38.5% of the operator's total.
The transformation over the last two years has been tremendously exciting - Former Flutter UK & Ireland CEO Ian Brown
Harrington, who will act as Flutter's UK & Ireland CEO (despite the restructuring), has a career history spanning close to 20 years. However, his first gaming industry role would come in December 2012 when he joined Betfair as its UK Commercial Director. He worked there for close to three and a half years before taking on a similar role at Paddy Power Betfair, staying until January 2018 when he moved on to his first role at Flutter. Here, Harrington was the Betfair Managing Director between January 2018 - August 2020, later taking on the role of International CCO until August 2023.
He then became the CEO of PokerStars, holding the role for just shy of a year and a half before coming to this latest role.
Brown, meanwhile, has expressed that the restructuring of the business marks a time for him to leave and follow alternative ambitions. He had been in the role for over two years, with a career that includes three other CEO positions at Rentalcars.com, BookingGo and UKFast.
Flutter CEO Peter Jackson said: “Ian’s time at Flutter has been enormously successful. He has transformed the UK & Ireland business on almost every metric and he will be a hard act to follow. Kevin’s promotion is very well-deserved and the business will be in safe hands as we embark on the next phase of our growth plan.”
Harrington himself said: “I’m incredibly proud to be given the chance to take over and run a business I first joined more than a decade ago. I want to continue the work that has made Flutter the clear market leader across the UK and Ireland and maintain the high standards we have set – with responsible gambling at the core of all our work.”
Meanwhile, Ian Brown added: “The transformation over the last two years has been tremendously exciting. I am particularly proud that we have taken share in a challenging market, investing in customer innovation and our people. Kevin has a deep knowledge of our business, and I am confident he will build on the strong momentum to take Flutter UKI to new heights.
“I would like to say a sincere thank you to Peter and the whole Flutter team for what has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career.”
