What Entain stands for: Regulated markets, greater geographical diversification and higher quality revenue streams, delivering for all stakeholders: customers, people, communities, and shareholders.
Our purpose is to revolutionise gambling and to create the most exciting and trusted entertainment for every customer.
Entain is a global entertainment and technology company that leads the way in responsible sports betting and gaming, and I am very excited to have the opportunity to continue the extraordinary momentum in the business while also sustaining and building on our industry-leading levels of player protection.
In November 2020, we outlined our new way forward through a clear strategy, something I was delighted to contribute to in my previous role as a Non-Executive Director of Entain. From humble beginnings, the company has grown to become the world leader in technology-enabled entertainment, disrupting the industry with unprecedented innovation, ambition and player protection.
The growth and development won’t stop here, though. While we very much expect the business to continue its impressive growth trajectory, our future growth will be underpinned by our Sustainability Charter focusing on responsibility, player protection and our societal contribution and impact. This was accompanied by our change of name to Entain, but more than that it represents a reinvigoration of our purpose to revolutionise gambling to create the most exciting and trusted entertainment for every customer, as well as our aim to be the world leader in sports betting and gaming entertainment.
The strategy is split into two pillars: Sustainability and Growth, which will be delivered through our industry-leading proprietary technology.
Sustainability is important in guaranteeing long-term value for all key stakeholders. Simply put, a successful business is a sustainable business. To champion this, we have developed our Sustainability Charter centred around five cornerstones:
- An exclusive focus on regulated markets
- Continuing to take the lead on responsible gambling
- Embedding Responsible Gambling into remuneration
- Pursuing the highest standards of corporate governance
- Investing in people and local communities
These efforts have manifested themselves – and will continue to do so – in multiple positive outcomes. One headline commitment is our pledge to only operate in nationally regulated markets by the end of 2023. Our move into Colombia and acquisition of Bet.pt in Portugal are two such examples. Philanthropy also features prominently in our plans, with the Entain Foundation committed to donating £100 million to worthy causes over five years. As part of this, the foundation has launched the Pitching In programme, which is designed to support non-league football clubs through a grant application process and aspiring athletes through financial support, recognition, and personal development opportunities.
Our sustainability efforts are being recognised externally, too. Entain has retained its position as a member of Dow Jones Sustainability Index for Europe and its membership of the FTSE4Good index for the third year running and has been for its carbon reduction initiatives.
We will be successful by putting customers at the centre of everything we do with superior user experiences, great customer service, the best and most enjoyable range of products and leading levels of player safety. By focusing on this we will build value for all our stakeholders for the long term.
Consumer behaviour is changing, and that change is technology driven. My view is that we will be successful by putting customers at the centre of everything we do with superior user experience, great customer service, safety and the right procedures.
Entain’s future growth is expected in four key areas:
- The US
- Core markets
- New markets
- New audiences
US - BetMGM, the US sports betting and gaming company created in partnership with MGM Resorts International, is positioned to become a leading operator in the fast-growing US sports betting and iGaming market, which we estimate will be worth at least $20 billion. Moreover, because of Entain’s proprietary technology, BetMGM benefits from significant competitive advantages as well as cost advantages. See the timeline of BetMGM’s rapid US rollout for more detail.
Core markets - Entain has delivered continuous and steady growth. The last 20 quarters have seen the company’s online growth rise by double-digits. We have in built growth with 93 percent of our NGR coming from markets that are growing more than 10 percent a year, and, outside the UK, 81 percent of the company’s markets have less than 20 percent online penetration.
New markets - There are significant opportunities across the globe with over 50 billion dollars gross gaming revenues from regulated markets in Africa, Latin America and Central & Eastern Europe – twice as much as the size of Entain’s business today. For example, Entain’s acquisition of Bet.pt, one of the leading online gambling operators in Portugal, will help the company capitalise on the recently regulated and rapidly growing Portuguese market, which is expected to be worth around 450 million euros by 2023. We also recently announced our offer for Enlabs, an online sports-betting and gaming brand company operating in the fast-growing Baltic region, which would give us access to up to seven additional regulated markets.
New audiences - We have also talked about new audiences and, for me, that has three elements to it:
- Firstly, in our existing markets, we can pivot our brands to become more focused on mass-market entertainment with a broader appeal to a wide, engaged, customer base. That will give us a better quality and greater sustainability of earnings
- Secondly, there are adjacent markets, such as those evolving around skill-based gaming and leveraging our product hub to create unique and leading marketing opportunities through free–to–play games.
- And thirdly, evolving markets and ecosystems such as e-sports. This is a particularly nascent area to Entain, so we will take it step by step, but the opportunity to have a leading share of a new market that could be worth over $1bn by 2024 is significant. Having worked in and around many different digital consumer businesses, as well as areas like e–sports, recreational interactive entertainment, and skill-based gaming, I’ve seen first-hand how new technologies, can make all forms of betting more engaging. These emerging trends will create new audiences and Entain will be investing in understanding who they are and how our offering can be tailored for them.
Emerging technologies such as 5G and virtual reality have the potential to create further changes and opportunities to the digital interactive betting and gaming markets. Our global alliance with Verizon Media is just one example of how we are pioneering in ways that will ensure we are leaders in emerging opportunities.
Enabling all of this is Entain’s technology, the beating heart of the company. Our proprietary technology stack is the reason why the company’s sustainability and growth plans can be so ambitious. It allows the company to better understand its customers and take a tailored approach to each player, whilst also operating at scale, ensuring a consistent and resilient service across a multitude of mobile and desktop formats. Entain is entirely in control of its own destiny and can deliver at speed, free from the need to coordinate with third parties to get stuff done.
The future for Entain is incredibly exciting.