Declaration of intent
CEO of Bet MGM co-parent Entain, Stella David, has publicly declared her firm’s bullish intent to capture up to 50% of New Zealand’s estimated £600m ($450m) iGaming market.
During the same FY25 results call recently, David also revealed a £50m ($66.2m) fund to mitigate the effects of the UK remote gambling tax hike, which rose to 40% on April 1.
actively pursuing three of the 15 iGaming licenses
Reports are that Entain is actively pursuing three of the 15 iGaming licenses up for grabs in New Zealand.
Licensing process imminent
Rollout of the NZ iGaming market in 2027will follow a licensing process starting July. With just months to go, David that thanks to its NZ betting arm TAB, Entain is the “only online operator that could cross-sell between sports and iGaming.”
TAB is New Zealand’s sole legal retail and online sports betting service provider, so an Entain pivot to online casino could give David’s firm a substantial player base.
also intends to enter NZ’s iCasino market
The only firm seemingly standing in the way of an Entain iGaming monopoly for now is SkyCity Entertainment Group. The Australia and NZ gaming giant also intends to enter NZ’s iCasino market and “become the trusted local leader”.
Entain is on a roll thanks to its online gambling business, with its Net Gaming Revenue (NGR) expected to grow by 5–7% on a constant currency (CC) basis. David told analysts during the recent earnings call that group NGR rose 8% to £5.3bn ($6.6bn) for 2025.
Entain recorded 15% online growth in its core UK & Ireland market last year, driven by 18% growth in NGR.
Contingencies
During the earnings call, David also revealed £50m would be made available in savings to mitigate the financial impact of UK tax hikes.
David added that Entain’s current priorities included honing down on cash generation to deliver £500m ($662m) in annual adjusted cash flow starting 2028.
The CEO said despite customer acquisition rate sitting pretty at above 15%, Entain “had more to do on continuing to improve cost of sales and optimising marketing rates as a percentage of NGR”.
