Entain currently runs major online wagering brands such as Ladbrokes and Neds in Australia, holding roughly 17% of the digital market and serving close to 2 million customers while also controlling the TAB retail and online wagering licence in New Zealand. The group has been reassessing its strategy after years of trying to challenge an established local rival inside pubs and clubs, a move that collided with exclusive venue rights and sparked costly legal and commercial standoffs. That push, combined with a foray into owning racehorses, meant a lot of capital went into side bets rather than the company’s core digital products.
Over the past six months, Entain has cut around 10% of its workforce, exited its racehorse ownership arm and moved to sell its large in‑venue entertainment division. The attempt to compete in retail venues and build branded betting lounges is estimated to have cost about $27 million, while another $13 million went into buying, managing and training yearlings through its racing arm. This adds up to around $40 million that is now seen as misallocated. Management argues that if this money had gone into marketing, media partnerships and product upgrades, the company could be running much closer to its main digital rival. Instead it is now playing catch‑up by revamping the Ladbrokes app, improving sports betting features and trying to keep racing customers from placing sports bets elsewhere.
The bigger strategic prize appears to be in New Zealand, where Entain already has a wagering monopoly and where a regulated online casino framework is expected to issue 15 licences by December. Entain already runs about 15 casino brands globally and sees an opportunity to be one of the few operators in New Zealand able to offer sports, racing and casino on a single platform. This could support double‑digit growth alongside the current 28% year‑on‑year increase from its New Zealand division. At the same time, the wider Australian online gambling market is tightening, as consumer spending comes under pressure, state taxes rise and smaller digital bookmakers hunt for share, which makes mergers and acquisitions more likely. Many in the sector expect Entain to be a takeover target, particularly with a still‑pending AUSTRAC fine over historic anti‑money laundering failures and a court date pencilled in for November if a settlement is not reached.
From Entain’s perspective, the plan appears to be to present itself as a scalable, tech‑driven operator with upside from New Zealand online casinos rather than as a distressed asset, even while it acknowledges that every business ultimately has a price. Whether the company remains an active consolidator or becomes part of someone else’s roll‑up will likely depend on the size of the AUSTRAC outcome, the speed of its online product improvements and how attractive its combined Australian and New Zealand footprint looks to global gambling groups over the next year.
