Billionaire businessman Kenneth Dart is now the single largest private shareholder in Flutter Entertainment, increasing his control in the global gambling giant yet again.
A notification sent to the London Stock Exchange on 20 May showed that Dart now controls 27.6% of all voting rights in Flutter, having purchased more shares via his investment company Candle Lake.
Dart’s most recent purchase saw his share of voting rights held through equity-based swaps rise from 6.25% to 8.8%. The swaps were secured via Candle Lake’s Cayman Islands-based subsidiary LBS Ltd.
When coupled with the 18.8% of shares Dart owns outright, the 8.8% of rights held via swaps mean that he now controls 27% of the available shares in Flutter..
Prior to last week’s purchase, Dart’s total control was 25% – consisting of 18.7% via direct ownership of shares and 6.25% via swaps.
Based on Flutter’s market cap of £12.85bn (as of the writing of this article), Dart’s 27.6% control equates to around £3.55bn.
What does this increase mean?
Dart has not increased his direct ownership in Flutter through this latest transaction, but rather he has increased his exposure in the business to the tune of 2.55%.
The Cayman Islands-based billionaire receives the gains and losses of additional Flutter shares through an agreement with a third-party bank, which will likely manage its risk through trading the underlying shares in the market.
Only the 18.8% of shares is true ownership, as evidenced by the amount of total voting rights Dart holds.
The remainder of this – now 8.8% and up from 6.25% – is exposure through financial contracts which move with Flutter’s ongoing share price, but do not add to his ownership or regular voting control.
By increasing his voting rights in Flutter, Dart is making himself an increasingly important figure within the business. His voting intentions and support will now carry a lot more weight in decision making.
Dart aiming for Flutter bullseye?
Dart is an American born businessman now based in the Cayman Islands. He was born into a prominent business family, best known as the founders of the Dart Container Corporation, a manufacturer of disposable food containers, which he served as President of in the 1990s.
Over the past year, the gambling industry appears to have piqued his interest – and in particular one of its most valuable assets, Flutter, which as of the writing of this article is the second largest gambling company in the world by market cap after Las Vegas Sands.
The company’s huge brand portfolio includes US market leading sportsbook FanDuel, global betting exchange Betfair, major Italian firms Sisal and Snaitech, British online betting giant Sky Bet, and UK and Ireland omnichannel firm Paddy Power, among others.
Despite its enviable lists of assets and consistent revenue growth, Flutter’s shares have fallen off in recent years. The firm’s share price hit a peak of £236.30 in February 2025, but has since fallen to £72.
Year to date, Flutter’s share price is down 55%.
One reason for this may be investor uncertainty around prediction markets, which are proving a disruptive force in the US, Flutter’s most valuable market.
While Flutter did get involved in the predictions space by launching FanDuel Predicts in December 2025, some felt that it may have moved too late, having been beaten by Fanatics and DraftKings.
Dart may be seeing this as an opportunity. Flutter’s formidable brand portfolio still leaves plenty of room to grow, and the dip in shares over the past year presents an opportunity for those wanting to get in prior to the price rising again – if they rise to 2025 levels that is.
He’s not the only one to do so. London-based activist investment fund Parvus Asset Management doubled its stake in Flutter from 5.1% to 10% in March for example, although others like Los Angeles-based Capital Group have opted to drop some of their stakeholding.
Meanwhile, amid all this trading, the firm is conducting a review of its listing on the LSE. It has had a primary listing on the NYSE since May 2024, having first listed there in January 2024, and is now considering making that its only listing.
Dart’s latest move follows recent shareholder transactions involving Flutter’s Chief Executive Officer, Peter Jackson; Chair, John Bryant; a Non-Executive Officer, Stafan Bomhard; and US-based multinational investment behemoth, BlackRock.
Meanwhile, Amy Howe, former Chief Executive Officer of FanDuel, has done the opposite of Dart and offloaded 4,711 of her shares via JP Morgan. It was announced that Howe would be leaving FanDuel at the same time Flutter published its Q1 report earlier this month.