GVC Holdings officially rebranded to Entain PLC in 2020, stating that it was to signify a "new era of sustainability and conduct" within the company. This rebranding followed a number of high-profile management changes and investigations.
ENTAIN BRANDS
- Betboo
- BetCity
- Bwin
- Cheeky Bingo
- Coral
- Crystalbet
- Eurobet
- Foxy Bingo
- Foxy Games
- Gala Bingo
- Gala Casino
- Gala Spins
- Gamebookers
- Gioco Digitale
- Ladbrokes
- Neds
- partypoker
- PartyCasino
- Sportingbet
- Sports Interaction
- Stadium Technology Group
- Unikrn
HISTORY
Founded in 2004 as Gaming VC Holdings (GVC Holdings), the company was used as a means to acquire Casino-Club. The operation was originally led by Steve Barlow and a team of three others. The same day that it launched its stock on the London Stock Exchange, 21 December 2004, it also completed the €105m ($140m) acquisition of Casino-Club.
The first major acquisition was that of Sportingbet, which was completed in 2012. This takeover was completed with William Hill for a total of £485m ($789m), where William Hill would take the Australian and Spanish markets while Entain would take the rest.
After winning the bid against competitor 888 Holdings, GVC acquired Bwin.Party for £1.1bn in 2016. Following this, it announced that its mobile sports wagers had increased 55% year-on-year, and mobile gaming figures by 98%.
Despite spending almost 20 years battling with the Competition and Markets authority in the UK, Ladbrokes was finally allowed to acquire Gala Coral Group in 2016. This merger was reported to be worth $2.6bn and the combination created the UK's largest bookmaker brand. The combined Ladbrokes Coral Group was bought by GVC only a year later, for £4bn.
Following the newly legislated sports betting market in the US in 2018, GVC signed a $200m deal with MGM Resorts International, from which they created the joint project, BetMGM. As the exclusive sports betting division of MGM, BetMGM operates both online and in physical venues in states with regulated markets. Later in 2021, MGM made an $11bn deal to buy Entain, which the Board subsequently refused.
Chairman Lee Feldman left GVC in 2019 after he sold £6m worth of company shares. This, combined with CEO Kenny Alexander selling shares worth up to £13.7m, caused the share price to fall by almost 14%.
A year later, Alexander would also leave the company in a sudden departure. Immediately following this, HM Revenue and Customs announced its investigation into "potential corporate offending" by GVC. The COO at the time, Shay Segev, stepped up to succeed him as CEO.
Eventually, in 2021, Segev also left the company. Jette Nygaard-Andersen was appointed CEO, who was the first female CEO of a UK-listed betting company.
In 2022, Entain was hit with a record-breaking settlement of £17m by the Gambling Commission, after it was found that the company had multiple anti-money laundering and safer gambling failures. At the time, it was speculated that Entain could lose its licence to operate in the UK.
