A myriad of investment firms have taken aim at Entain, further compounding the legal battles for the operator.
Several firms have been named in the latest legal claim against Entain – including State Street Bank and Trust Company, trustee for Roche US Retirement Plans Master Trust, and Northern Trust Company.
City AM reported that the suit comes in relation to financial market issues for Entain.
The operator is also still dealing with some fallout from the legacy case in Turkey, with former Chief Executive Kenny Alexander and Chair Lee Feldman recently pursuing legal action against Entain and its legal firm, Addleshaw Goddard.
At the centre of these accusations are claims that the group shared ‘privileged information’ with investigators during the Turkish bribery case that the operator faced in 2019.
The Turkey case saw GVC Holdings accused of reaping the benefits of an online betting and gaming business.
Following an investigation into Entain’s ‘potential corporate offending’ and breach of the Bribery Act 2010, the operator reached a voluntary Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in November 2023.
As a result, the operator agreed to pay £585m as a financial penalty, plus disgorgement of profits, a £20m donation to charity and £10m in CPS and HMRC expenses.
Negotiating the settlement, former Chair Barry Gibson cited that bribery infringements were related to a former business sold under the tenure of Alexander and Feldman.
Gibson noted that Entain had “fundamentally changed as a business”, in which HMRC had deemed it helpful and reliable in assisting its investigation.
Amongst the legal cases for Entain, the group was cleared in a case in Belgium over the decision to grant Ladbrokes virtual betting rights in the country.
The decision was a major boost to the operator, given its significant presence in the European market – it also culminated more than five years of legal back and forth.
The case led to the European Commission conducting a close examination of whether the arrangement breached Article 107(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU’), which focuses on state aid.
The European Commission found that exclusive rights had not been granted to Ladbrokes, adding that the Belgian state “did not waive or forego any resources which should have been paid by Ladbrokes for operating virtual betting”.
It continued: ”On this basis, the Commission concluded that the alleged measure does not constitute state aid under EU rules.”
