Finance
Women's Euros and Club World Cup boost Ladbrokes owner Entain's profit forecast
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on August 12, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on August 12, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Entain raises its profit forecast, driven by the Women's Euros and Club World Cup. The company reports strong online betting momentum and a 9% growth in UK and Ireland gaming revenue.
By Yamini Kalia
(Reuters) -British gambling firm Entain forecast its annual core profit outlook above market expectations on Tuesday, driven by strong online betting momentum of the Women's Euros and the inaugural Club World Cup tournament.
"We're seeing a rise in interest in female sports," Entain CFO Rob Wood told Reuters, adding that the recent Women's Euros, where the British soccer team scored a historic win against world champions Spain, was the most bet-on women's Euros ever.
Entain saw record engagement during the Club World Cup final - the year's most bet-on football match - and the 2025 French Open, its most bet-on Grand Slam ever.
Entain's net gaming revenue in the UK and Ireland, its largest market, came ahead of expectations with a 9% growth at constant currency for the six months ended June.
Total net gaming revenue rose 10% at constant currency.
Entain shares rose nearly 3% on Tuesday, before paring gains to fall 0.5% lower by 0806 GMT.
Individual player fandoms have also changed betting behaviour in recent years, Wood said, as more people are betting on player outcomes rather than team outcomes during matches.
"The most popular bets tend to be a combination of who's going to win the match, who's going to score the first goal, or the first touchdown in the NFL," Wood said.
Entain recovered a stronger-than-expected market share across its core regions in the first half of the year, offsetting the tough comparison of last year, which had been boosted by the Euros tournament.
The company raised its annual online net gaming revenue growth to about 7% on a constant-currency basis, from previous expectations of a mid-single-digit percentage growth.
Annual core profit is expected between 1.10 billion and 1.15 billion pounds ($1.48 billion-$1.55 billion), above market expectations of 1.11 billion pounds.
($1 = 0.7440 pounds)
(Reporting by Yamini Kalia and Unnamalai L in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
Entain's annual core profit outlook is boosted by strong online betting momentum from the Women's Euros and the inaugural Club World Cup.
Entain's net gaming revenue in the UK and Ireland grew by 9% at constant currency for the six months ended June.
Individual player fandoms have changed betting behavior, with more people betting on player outcomes rather than team outcomes during matches.
Entain expects its annual core profit to be between 1.10 billion and 1.15 billion pounds, exceeding market expectations.
Entain shares rose nearly 3% on Tuesday but later fell 0.5% lower by 0806 GMT.
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