Entain orders withdrawal from all unregulated markets 

Entain Plc has underlined its commitment to securing 100% growth within regulated igaming markets, having this morning declared an accelerated withdrawal from several unregulated areas. 

The FTSE100 gambling gorup’s board notified investors that the it would no longer operate in “unregulated markets where it sees no path to domestic regulation.”

No details were provided as to which markets Entain had chosen to exit, as corporate governance noted that the decision was necessary to achieve corporate objectives of generating 100% of revenue and EBITDA from regulated markets, outlined in November 2020.

Investors were informed: “As part of that strategy, the Group made a commitment that, by the end of 2023, 100% of the Group’s revenue would come from markets that are nationally regulated.

“From today, the Group will accelerate this process by exiting its few remaining markets where there is no clear path to market liberalisation via domestic regulation.”

At present, Entain brands are licensed in more than 30 countries. The business will maintain a presence in markets where it anticipates a change in regulation to enable licensing in due course.

“As part of the profound and far-reaching transformation programme that Entain has undergone in the last few years, we took the decision in 2020 to only operate in nationally regulated markets,”  remarked Entain Chairman Barry Gibson.

“We stated at the outset that we would exit any market that wasn’t able to regulate at sufficient pace or to the right standards, and we have acted decisively to do so.  We are proud to be leading our industry as the only global operator taking this approach of solely operating in markets where there is domestic licensing.”

Entain concluded that the net gaming revenue and EBITDA impact from closures will be relatively small and have no effect on current expectations, in which full-year 2022 results will be published on 9 March 2022.