Flutter Entertainment is the most valuable of the world’s gaming PLCs, but one of its closest rivals has taken a lead in one key market. Entain, a rival in a number of markets, is fairing better in the UK according to Q2 results.

Both companies have a huge UK presence. Flutter has one of the country’s strongest online brands in Sky Bet alongside the Betfair exchange and a retail presence in Paddy Power, as well as iGaming assets like Poker Stars.

Entain, meanwhile, is a dominant force on the UK high-streets via its Ladbrokes and Coral betting shops, which of course also have an online counterpart. On top of this it runs the Gala bingo, Foxy Bingo and PartyCasino platforms.

Publishing Q2 financials just a few days apart, Entain and Flutter both made gains in the UK but the former’s was much more noteworthy than the latter’s. For the UK & Ireland region, Entain’s NGR rose 9% to £1.09bn, driven largely by online with retail continuing to struggle against changing UK market dynamics and customer preferences.

Addressing investors and analysts in the group’s Q2 conference call, Group CFO and Deputy CEO Rob Wood explained how critical the UK had been to Entain’s overall performance during the quarter.

“How have we grown ahead of the market? It’s primarily due to the UK,” he said. “If I look at growth over the past four quarters but strip out the UK, growth drops to just over 7%.”

He added: “In the UK we’re very pleased with our performance and we’re continuing to regain market share. Growth continues to be driven by player values, reflecting our improved player journeys, improved product and improved marketing.”

Is Entain’s investment paying off?

According to Stella David, Entain CEO, the company’s enhancements to its product across multiple brands has paid off, both in the UK and other markets. This has led to what the CEO calls “growth not only in volume but in player values”.

“On top of the huge task of improving customer journeys we’ve also been focusing on products and player experiences,” she said, summarising Entain’s product enhancement efforts.

“The apps are significantly faster, we’ve enhanced our bet builder, in play, cash out and bet tracker, and players are loving our coins economy reward system as well as the benefits of having our exclusive games and content.”

In contrast to Entain, Flutter’s UK&I revenue was up by just 1% YoY to US$936m (around £689.3m at the time of writing), and although online casino segments performed well the firm’s regional business was let down by a 12% decline in sports betting revenue.

Of course, on a global basis, Flutter remains unmatched. Flutter’s Q2 group-wide revenue stood at $4.2bn, dwarfing Entain’s entire H1 net gaming revenue of £2.62bn. The key difference here is US exposure, however.

FanDuel drives a huge amount of NYSE-listed Flutter’s revenue, and as such a lot of investor interest – on the firm’s own recent investor call, the UK&I segment was barely mentioned. In the UK, Entain appears to have lapped Flutter.

Product may be a key reason for this. While Flutter’s UK brands and products, like Paddy Power, Sky Bet and Betfair, have a solid reputation for quality and service across the UK, there are occasional issues.

Sky Bet in particular has been getting a bit of grief from customers on social media after an update earlier this year. Bettors have been taking to Reddit and Facebook to air their discontent with the updated app, and some reviews on sites like Trustpilot have also taken aim at the new format. SBC has reached out to Flutter about these social media complaints.

Entain’s updates to its sportsbook platforms may have simply proven more popular than its rival’s, leading to better UK returns in Q2. Marketing investment may have also paid off for Entain, with it getting “good paybacks from its performance marketing”, according to David.

“I’m confident that increasing the investment will fuel growth, but I’m not going to get ahead of my boots because if I do and we have to do a reset you’re not going to thank me if we have to go for additional growth before we establish it.

“The performances this year have proved that there are really good reasons for continuing that momentum. We’re in a different part of that journey.”

Can Entain get good Ladisfaction from 2025?

Entain is now taking steps to further build on its UK marketing with another campaign, ‘Ladisfaction’, coming just ahead of the Premier League and EFL Championship seasons commencing, while the League One and Two campaigns are already underway.

A focus on UK product and UK marketing may prove critical to Entain maintaining its growth trajectory in the market, though the company is not overly optimistic about its prospects. Last year was a tough year for the company with multiple reports showing UK growth declining, and leadership expects this to be a long process.

Wood remarked: “We see opportunities to outperform market growth, potentially in the UK as we’re still recovering market share and will see just how far that takes us. We think by the end of this year we might be fully recovered on gaming but sport will take longer.”

The Premier League season kicks off in just two days’ time and betting volume will, as always, skyrocket as a result.

The game is now on for not just Entain and Flutter but also the UK’s other major players – bet365, Betfred, Evoke etc – to capitalise and close a year of never ending regulatory debate and foreboding warnings of tax changes on a high.

Product and marketing will, as always, be crucial to this, and it seems that Entain has updated and adjusted well in H1 – but will the party repeat itself by year’s end?

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