Ladbrokes and Coral owner Entain has bet on its “new lease of life” after a set of low-scoring Euro 2024 games helped the bookmaker generate more cash.
The company, which is one of the world’s biggest sports betting and gaming firms, did better than expected in recent months amid a busy summer of sport including the Euros and Copa America.
England was part of one of the lowest-scoring groups seen at the men’s football European Championships, despite reaching the final against Spain.
Bookmakers typically profit more from 0-0 games and draws.
Entain’s finance chief, Rob Wood, revealed that Spain was heavily-backed by punters in countries outside of England to take home the trophy, with the final scooping up the largest number of bets.
He also said there had been a trend towards “player fandom” whereby people place bets on players rather than teams.
Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal emerged as the most popular picks for player of the tournament, according to its betting data.
Meanwhile, Mr Wood said the business was “slaving away every day” to drive a turnaround of its financial performance, having been weighed down by heavy losses last year.
The firm was hammered by a £585 million settlement to resolve an investigation into alleged bribery at its former Turkish business.
Mr Wood told the PA news agency: “To have that situation hanging over us for a number of years did create some challenges … now it is behind us.
“The outcome is done, we do have a settlement to pay off over the next four years, but we have clarity.”
He added: “It does give us a new lease of life now.”
Entain reported a pre-tax loss of £27.6 million for the first half of the year, narrowed significantly from the hefty £448.1 million loss reported the prior year.
Gaming revenues, at constant currency, were up 8% to £2.6 billion for the half-year.
Furthermore, Entain said a stronger than expected performance in recent months means it was expecting online gaming revenues to rise about 1% to 5% this year, having previously predicted a decline.
It is also predicting its earnings, before measures like tax and interest, to be between £1.04 billion and £1.09 billion for the full year.
Mr Wood said the group, which also owns Gala Bingo and Foxy Bingo, tended to be “quite immune” from macroeconomic pressures.
“One of the reasons for that is the vast majority of our customers are sat on their couch and they’re playing games or they’re watching a football match or a cricket match.
“When there’s a macro downturn it can mean people are at home more, but that doesn’t hurt us.”
He said the average bet placed through its platforms was £10, with punters winning back £9 on average.
Shares in Entain jumped by about 8% on Thursday morning.
