DELIVERING AT SCALE
Technology isn’t simply part of Flutter’s business; it’s the beating heart, the spark that kindles innovation and product evolution. With an army of more than 7,000 technologists – one in three Flutter employees – working in technology and spread across nine time zones and 23 locations, seamless collaboration is crucial to delivering at scale.
A deep and shared culture is the thread that enables this. Based on curiosity and a desire to make a difference to customers, it is key to powering the teamwork that develops everything from shared platforms, such as the Global Betting Platform that processes thousands of bets a second, to artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as Suspiria. This assesses customer behavior in real time to identify potentially out of the norm betting patterns, supporting our commitment to responsible gaming and customer wellbeing.
The Flutter Edge, our global differentiator encompassing scale, expertise, products and technology, is also a core element. A deliberate strategy that allows each of our brands to innovate without duplicating efforts, balancing autonomy and alignment. So, while dedicated brand teams build for their customers, global specialists create platforms and products that can be adapted to local markets. This enables teams to move fast, stay focused and deliver with the mindset of a challenger, supported by the strength of the world’s largest online sports betting and iGaming operator.
Culture is as important as code
Culture isn’t a side-effect of our success; it’s one of the main reasons for it. We’re always looking for ways to further deepen and strengthen this shared bond and this year we created something new and exciting, TechCONNECT – a global gathering designed to inspire and connect technologists across Flutter.
The first event, held in New York, was a huge success, celebrating the work of our teams and fostering a shared purpose. All sessions were filmed to ensure that everyone, everywhere could benefit from insights shared and feel part of one unified team.
Paul McCormick, CTO for UK and Ireland, says: “TechCONNECT is a culture amplifier. We’re not just building technology together, but learning and growing together.”
More broadly, we invest heavily in keeping people connected. Events such as hackathons and “FedEx Days” –four-hour innovation sprints, so named because, like FedEx, they deliver overnight – give engineers space to share ideas, experiment and learn from each other. Recent events, grounded in real-world business challenges, have explored how we can best use AI to enhance workflows, free up teams to focus on higher-value work and create differentiated customer experiences.
Driving a global technology engine
This commitment to driving innovation around the world is mirrored in our investment in four hubs: Cluj in Romania and Porto in Portugal, as well as Hyderabad in India and Sofia in Bulgaria. All are growing rapidly and each plays an active role in reinforcing Flutter’s shared culture – fostering collaboration and supporting local ownership while keeping teams connected to the broader mission.
In Cluj alone, the team, predominantly but not exclusively technologists, has grown from 60 people to more than 2,000 in recent years, moving from supporting a single brand to seven, and building centers of excellence in topics such as online gaming. Ioana Popa, Group Director, Flutter Hubs Cluj, sums up the culture there as “innovative, bold and expert.”
Elsewhere, Porto has become a noted center of excellence for sports platform technology, while Hyderabad is a Global Capability Center (GCC), meaning it houses a wide range of technology capabilities within one site.
But it’s not just about building culture within and between teams, because developing individual talent is also central. Initiatives such as the Self-Development Fund – an annual budget to invest in learning and development – ensure that every technologist can stay ahead of the curve and deliver the best experiences for customers.
Innovation at speed
Share, Smart and Secure are the three pillars that define how our technology is developed. These pillars are practical, not abstract. They shape decisions every day and by following them our brands can move faster and innovate smarter, without sacrificing safety.
- Share scales innovation by reusing technology and avoiding duplication, accelerating delivery: “The Share mission enables every brand to make full use of technologies developed elsewhere, helping products come to life faster” - Andy Sheh, CTO of Flutter’s market-leading US brand FanDuel.
- Smart is about working intelligently, unlocking the power of AI and emerging technologies. Mike Foster, CIO of Sportsbet, the Australian market leader in online wagering, describes AI as “an incredible space where Smart really comes to life” because it allows teams to solve problems once, then deploy solutions everywhere.
- Secure reflects our focus on trust, embedding security from design through common standards and automation. Flutter has also introduced AI governance frameworks to ensure ethical development and to protect sensitive data.
Global scale, local impact
Sharing assets across our brands globally has delivered measurable results in local markets. Mario Martinelli, CTO of Flutter Southern Europe and Africa, highlights the launch of a PokerStars peer-to-peer betting platform and online bingo brand tombola’s first-ever platform partnership as demonstrations of the power of the Flutter Edge, creating cross-brand benefits, improving engagement and strengthening regional leadership.
Flutter’s scale gives us reach. Our technology gives us speed. But it’s our culture of curiosity, collaboration and customer obsession that turns both into lasting advantage. We’re not standing still. As AI reshapes how we build, test and operate, we’re embedding it more deeply into our products. We’re continuing to invest in talent and tools, and building on the foundations of trust, security and shared purpose that define our strategy.
With curiosity driving our culture and technology as our language, we’re shaping the future of digital entertainment for millions of customers worldwide.
