(Reuters) - British bookmaker Entain reported a 12% rise in annual adjusted core profit on Thursday and said it was comfortable with market expectations for 2025, sending its shares up nearly 7% in early trading.

The owner of the Ladbrokes and Coral brands said its adjusted core earnings rose to 1.09 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) at constant currency, helped by earlier-than-expected recovery in its UK and Ireland business and rapid growth in gaming revenue in key markets like Brazil.

"The group has started the year strongly, with the momentum seen during 2024 continuing into 2025," the company said in a statement, adding that operational impacts of earlier regulatory changes in some of its markets were behind it.

Entain's shares rose as much as 6.6% before cutting gains to trade up 3.6% at 769 pence by 0815 GMT. 

Analysts in a company-provided consensus expect core profit of 1.11 billion pounds for 2025.

Entain, whose CEO departed suddenly last month, has had to contend with tightening regulations in Brazil, Belgium, and the Netherlands over the past year, which it said led to an impairment charge of 476.4 million pounds in 2024.

Still, it is banking on strength in the nascent U.S. market, where its joint venture with MGM Resorts is expected to turn a profit this year and deliver revenue of between $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion.

Earlier this week, rival Flutter Entertainment, the world's largest online betting company, forecast 34% growth in annual core profit powered by a gambling boom in the U.S. market.

"We're very focussed on BetMGM," deputy CEO Rob Wood told Reuters, adding that there was still scope to expand to U.S. states such as Texas and California in the future. 

(Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)