FanDuel's Amy Howe tries to balance pragmatism, humility, and profitability — all while being a trailblazer in a male-dominated industry

As the CEO of FanDuel, Amy Howe accomplished a feat this year that so far no other US sports-betting platform has been able to achieve: profitability.

The company, whose businesses include fantasy sports, sports gambling, online casino games, and horse racing, in September posted its first-ever profit — when excluding certain costs — and forecast full-year profitability for 2023, at least a year before DraftKings, its closest rival, plans to follow suit.

FanDuel, which is owned by the Dublin-based Flutter Entertainment, projects revenue of $3 billion for 2022 and has said that the total market for online gambling could reach more than $40 billion by 2030. 

Analysts say that Howe, who joined FanDuel in February of 2021 as interim CEO and officially got the top job six months after that, deserves much of the credit for the company's growth. They say she's maintained a rigorous focus on the bottom line, while also making a series of creative and savvy business moves.

"Howe has managed to strike a delicate balance between continually reinvesting in the business while also recognizing that the market is calling for profitability," Chris Grove, a partner emeritus at Eilers & Krejcik, a boutique research and consulting firm, told Insider.

"That's an intricate waltz and she is managing it to perfection," Grove said.

Seeking constant innovation

This year Howe launched FanDuel TV, a 24-hour television network, which features a mix of studio programming and live sports. She also sealed deals with the WNBA and the New York Yankees, making FanDuel the official sportsbook partner and official daily fantasy partner for the league and team. 

Howe, who is the only female CEO at a major US sportsbook operator, has also been instrumental in expanding FanDuel's customer base by encouraging more women to wager on sports. At the SBC Summit North America trade show and conference this year, she described the female market as an "untapped opportunity" and detailed a number of FanDuel's initiatives to bring more women bettors into the fold.

"By no means have we cracked the code on this, but I think supporting female athletes and advocating for equity with female athletes is really important," Howe said at SBC.

There are challenges ahead, however. Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports betting, according to the American Gaming Association, but the regulatory environment might soon become less friendly. And while FanDuel has long had an impressive command of the US market share and recently extended its sizable lead over DraftKings, the industry is fiercely competitive  and new players continue to emerge.

Howe is undaunted but remains cautious. "We're always a little bit paranoid about making sure that we can continue to maintain that position," Howe told Insider last year. "We're constantly trying to figure out, 'How do we innovate?' So that our flywheel spins even faster than our competitors."

Leaning on pragmatism and subtle influence

Howe arrived at FanDuel after a successful seven-year run at Live Nation Entertainment. She held several positions, including president and chief operating officer at Ticketmaster, where she worked on the company's transition from paper tickets to digital passes. Before that, Howe, who has an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, was a longtime partner at McKinsey & Co.

Howe told the "Corporate Competitor Podcast" in August that consulting often involves dealing with politically or emotionally charged issues, and there's an art to making such challenges less fraught. She also said she developed "a healthy dose of pragmatism" when she moved from consulting to being in an operations role within an organization.

"You have to learn the art of influencing your stakeholders, in many cases a broad set of stakeholders, and those people don't report to you," she said on the podcast. "When I first came into Live Nation, and even FanDuel, nobody reported to me, but I got a lot done because I knew how to work in an organization."

Howe's pragmatism and subtle influence have served her and the company well, said Grove, the analyst. "She could have come into FanDuel and said, 'I want to do things my way,' but instead she looked around at the market, talked to consumers, and listened to her internal team," he said.

"And by virtue of her humility, she's been able to blend those competing perspectives into a coherent and successful vision for the company."