Entain will close the shutters on its Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) operations, confirming the move a week after media speculation that a withdrawal was imminent.

The group has agreed to sell its 20% stake in the Entain CEE business to its joint venture partner EMMA Capital for a total cash consideration of around €425m (£366m).

This will be the first move in a planned phased withdrawal from the region.

The firm’s phased exit gives its CEE arm an enterprise value of £1.9bn, with net proceeds from the sale being dedicated towards reducing the FTSE 100 constituent’s current debt net figure of some £3.64bn – which almost exactly matches its current market cap. 

The group also plans to return any excess capital from the phased sale to its shareholders.

Stella David, group Chief Executive Officer, said: “Our initial divestment is a decisive first step towards Entain fully exiting Entain CEE and reflects our ongoing focus on maximising value for shareholders.”

Entain brings CEE journey to a close

Entain CEE came into being in 2022 when it embarked on the JV with EMMA Capital. The group’s CEE venture started off with the purchase of EMMA’s 75% stake in Croatian market leader SuperSport.

Poland became a core market for the new business in 2023 with the acquisition of STS Holdings, the dominant player in the local betting market. 

The group’s decision to fund the takeover with a £600m bookbuild was criticised at the time by Ricky Sandler, formerly a prominent Entain shareholder via his now-defunct Eminence Capital investment firm.

Recent financial statements have shown diminishing returns from the CEE market. The company’s Q1 2026 statement showed a 6% decline in CEE net gaming revenue, with retail revenue down 30% and online revenue down 1%.

The announcement has clearly gone down well with shareholders too in its early stages, with Entain shares rising by around 13p to £5.70 in the 15 minutes since it revealed the news.

Nonetheless, leadership remains confident that it was a worthwhile investment.

“This enables us to unlock the value created by our Croatian and Polish businesses’ and demonstrates our robust capital allocation discipline,” David continued on the planned withdrawal.

“Driven by structural growth across our globally scaled portfolio and our improving operational execution, I am confident in our ability to deliver strong future cash-generation. Entain remains well positioned to be a long-term industry winner.”

Once the transaction is complete, Entain’s share in Entain CEE – encompassing SuperSport and STS – will drop from 67.5% to 47.5%. EMMA’s shares will go up from 22.5% to 42.5%.

The news comes as the business continues to battle a drop off in share price on the LSE, with its stocks down 26% YTD. Its price has been rebounding over the past month, however, up 6% from the start of June.

Article contributions from Viktor Kayed and Patrick Killeen