Like BetMGM, Entain was adamant in its dismissal of any engagement with the US prediction market.
Speaking on the company’s investor call, CEO Stella David deferred to previous comments from BetMGM’s CEO Adam Greenblatt, while also stating her own belief that the emerging sector that has dominated newswaves is operating illegally in the US.
Greenblatt told BetMGM’s investors earlier this week: “Our position is clear and aligned with almost 40 state attorneys general, our regulators and our tribal partners. As the law stands today, sports prediction markets are, in essence, illegal sports betting.”
“Prediction market operators have no requirements to protect consumers as licensed sports betting operators do. They do not uphold responsible gaming principles. They do not have self-reporting obligations for compliance failings and do not have whistleblowing and information sharing obligations.”
Prediction market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket remain embroiled in a number of court cases across the US. Meanwhile, a growing raft of state regulators have warned US operators to avoid prediction markets.
International possibilities
However, it is not just the US that traditional sports betting operators will have to contend with the surge of prediction markets.
Kalshi has announced plans to transition to a global model, making it available in over 140 countries, including a large portion of Europe. Notable absentees from the list are the UK, Australia and Canada, however.
Although Entain may well be forced to consider the challenge of Kalshi, David reassured investors that, in her view, “in regulated markets, sportsbook offering is highly superior to what prediction markets are currently offering”.
“That’s not to say we shouldn’t be constantly innovating and looking for new things for customers to be engaged with. If there is a new feature that makes sense to them, we would lean into that,” she noted, adding that in the UK specifically, the concept is not entirely new due to the presence of exchanges such as Betfair.
Seeing returns
Entain remains buoyant on the performance of its BetMGM joint venture, as David informed investors that it expects BetMGM to return $200m to its parent companies by the end of the year, driven by strong growth across both sports betting and online gaming.
“BetMGM’s impressive year-to-date is evidence of the success of the tremendous work that the BetMGM team have been delivering and also Entain’s product and tech teams in supporting BetMGM,” added David.
Overall, Entain reported steady growth in Q3 despite navigating customer-friendly sports results.
Its UK and Irish revenue rose 8% year-over-year from Q3 2024, with online revenue up 15% and retail revenue up 2%.
Outside of the UK, Entain’s international brand portfolio, extending across mainland Europe, Australia, Brazil and the US, experienced mixed success. Excluding US revenue, its international division grew net gaming revenue (NGR) by 4%, online NGR by 5% and retail NGR by 3%.
Notably, revenue from its Italian brands, Eurobet, bwin and Gioco Digitale rose by 6%, while its Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) division recorded growth of 10%.
However, YoY revenues in Brazil and Australia fell by 11% and 6% respectively in Q3.
