Entain remains a target for high profile investors following the breakup of major shareholder Eminence Capital, as JP Morgan Chase increases its shareholding in the company.

A notification to the London Stock Exchange revealed that JP Morgan Chase has upped its stake in Entain to control 7% of the company’s overall stock, consisting of 5.6% in direct voting rights and 1.4% in financial instruments.

Entertain share price peaked at £5.42 on Friday 8 May, the date that JP Morgan Chase exceeded the 5% minimum reporting threshold. Based on this, the firm’s total stake in Entain could have been valued up to £244.9m on this date.

Entain’s share price has dropped marginally in the following days, however, currently standing at £5.26 per share as of the writing of this article.

JP Morgan cashing in on Entain?

The purchase by a major multinational bank like JP Morgan Chase – a Down Jones and S&P 100 bank with over $4.7tn in assets – may be a sign of confidence in Entain’s long-term sustainability, however.

Entain shares took a hit in early May when Eminence Capital, a New York hedge fund active for over 25 years, shut down. Eminence was Entain’s third largest shareholder behind Capital Group and Dodge & Cox with a 6.5% stake in the company.

Following the closure, Eminence founder Ricky Sandler subsequently stood down as a Non-Executive Director of the company. He still had some shares to dispose of, however, and did so on 7 May, reducing his holdings in the company from 5.8% to zero. 

Like many other gambling PLCs, and privately held companies for that matter, Entain has a lot to deal with in 2026. 

The company’s primary market is the UK, where its Ladbrokes and Coral brands operate thousands of betting shops across the high-street while also offering popular online betting and gaming websites.

Entain’s UK status has left it exposed to the increase in Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) from 21% to 40% this April, a measure imposed on the betting and gaming industry by HM Treasury’s November 2025 Autumn Budget. 

Crucially though, and perhaps giving confidence to Entain and investors, the company’s extensive betting shop estate is excluded from both the RGD increase and next year’s increase in General Betting Duty. This hasn’t stopped the company from making retail cutbacks across the UK-and-Ireland division, however.

The UK industry is also facing criticism around advertising and the presence of high-street betting and gaming facilities in local communities, though it’s unclear whether the victories for the more pro-industry Reform UK and anti-industry Green parties in last week’s local elections will change this outlook at all.

Entain ever subject to speculation

With Entain’s share price down 31.8% year-to-date, there is every chance that JP Morgan Chase is cashing in while shares are cheaper – perhaps an indication that the bank expects a rebound for the firm this year.

While it declared a third year of multi-million-pound losses for 2025, Entain still had some bright spots last year, with group-wide revenue up 3% to £5.25bn and UK and Irish revenue up 6% to £2.19bn.

Some rumours around a potential sale of the company continue to circulate also, and investors like JP Morgan Chase could theoretically be hoping to cash in on a potential transaction involving high-profile brands like Ladbrokes and Coral.

However, as leadership has given no indication of any interest in a sale, any rumours around it can only be labelled as speculation – at least for now. 

On the other hand, it’s not like Entain hasn’t been an acquisition target before, but it has also been a notoriously tricky one, with leadership shutting down MGM Resorts International’s $11.1bn (£8.1bn) bid back in 2021 as ‘significantly undervaluing’ the company.