UK Central to Entain’s Turnaround Plans
Entain’s UK business is key to its turnaround strategy in 2024, the operator told analysts this week.
The UK and Irish business suffered a 6% drop in NGR to £1bn in H1on regulatory changes in the prior year. But various product enhancements are expected return the UK business to growth by the end of the year.
Improved site speed, an in-house bet builder product and further development of its free-to-play rewards programme LadBucks are expected to increase casual players and drive conversion rates for real money activities.
“We are seeing green shoots of progress thanks to the hard work of our new UK leadership team,” chief commercial officer and president Sameer Deen told analysts.
Entain reported a 6% year-on-year rise in group net gaming revenue (NGR) to £2.56bn during H1. Its CEE JV with Czech investors Emma Capital saw a 126% uptick in H1 revenue to £240.9m – helped by the acquisitions of STS in Poland and Croatia’s SuperSport during 2023.
Codere Online CEO Expects Spain to Reinstate Advertising Restrictions
Codere Online CEO Aviv Sher has told analysts he expects Spain to reintroduce its strict controls limiting advertising.
Operators scored a victory when a Supreme Court ruling overturned some of the country’s most stringent measures including a ban on celebrity endorsements and social media advertising. However Sher believes this is only temporary.
“From the Supreme Court point of view, nothing changed. I think eventually the parliament will come back with the law and bring [the ad ban] to where it previously was,” Sher said during Codere Online’s Q2 results call.
He believes the Supreme Court ruling will be overridden by a new decree bringing back the original ad ban.
“We have one year to use media as we can now,” he said.
Austrian Supreme Court Orders Player to Return Winnings to Unlicensed Operator
Austria’s Supreme Court has ordered a player in Austria to return part of their winnings to an unlicensed operator, in a case dating back to 2023.
The court ruled the contract between the player and company was invalid due to it not having a license to operate in Austria.
The operator had initially sought to recover €7,162 in winnings made between May and July 2020, but the player was ordered to pay €626.60 to cover the operator’s legal fees.
Entain in Sportingbet Trademark Dispute Over Sportingwin Brand Similarities
Entain’s Sportingbet has filed suit in Malta’s Civil Court ordering Bulgarian online betting operator Sportingwin to cease operating under its current domain, as it believes the two brands are too similar.
Entain claims Sportingwin’s brand infringes on its 2017 trademark, according to court documents.
Sportingwin’s trademark was approved in 2020 when the Bulgarian operator was first established. CEO Miroslav Rashev told iGB that the two brands had previously operated across different markets in relative harmony.
This isn’t the first dispute between the two operators, as Entain filed and then lost a similar case with the Czech Arbitration Court’s Arbitration Centre for Internet Disputes in February 2023.
Betsson Acquires FDJ’s Sporting Solutions Technology
Betsson Group has acquired Sporting Solutions’ trading, pricing and sports betting risk-management offering from FDJ Group on 2 August, to bolster its B2B and B2C sportsbook offerings.
Established in 2007, Sporting Solutions is a UK-facing business that also operates in Canada and South Africa, working with several major operators and lotteries including 888Sport, Ladbrokes Coral, SkyBet, William Hill and Norsk Tipping.
Sporting Solutions will continue to provide services to its B2B betting partners, following the acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals and certain other conditions.
UK National Self-Exclusion Register sees 12% Increase in Younger Gamblers
UK national self-exclusion scheme Gamstop reported one in two sign ups were between 16 and 35 in age in the first half of the year, causing the average age of those joining the scheme to fall.
A notable 12% increase in younger players (16-24 years) self-excluded during the period, igniting concerns around underage gamblers.
Gamstop CEO Fiona Palmer said the data indicated an urgent need for targeted support and preventative education for younger age groups.
In total, 49,494 new registrants signed up to the programme in H1, reflecting a rise of 3% year-on-year. This takes the total number of people signed up for the self-exclusion scheme to 482,815.
