Doug Brown became chief executive of Sportsbet on June 1, 2026, as part of a restructure that elevated outgoing Sportsbet CEO Barni Evans to a broader regional role at parent company Flutter Entertainment. Evans now serves as CEO of Flutter APAC and Emerging Markets.
The change, reported by iGaming Business, gives Evans oversight of Flutter's betting operations across the Asia-Pacific region and other emerging markets, while Brown takes day-to-day control of Sportsbet, Flutter's market-leading Australian brand.
The move fits a pattern at Flutter through the first half of 2026. The group has been reshaping its senior bench around regional structures rather than single-brand leadership, a sign that it is managing the business as a portfolio of markets at different stages of maturity.
Sportsbet remains one of Flutter's most important profit centres, so the choice of leader there is closely watched. Promoting from a regional structure, rather than parachuting in an outsider, signals continuity for the Australian operation at a time when the local market faces ongoing advertising and tax pressure. The expanded APAC remit, meanwhile, points to where Flutter expects its next growth to come from.