ENTAIN 2026 Interim Financial Results

[Chief Stipe]

Entain reported its H1 2026 interim financial results on August 13, 2026, showing a 5% increase in net gaming revenue to £2.5 billion despite regulatory and tax headwinds. [1, 2]

Financial Highlights

• Net Gaming Revenue (NGR): Rose 5% year-over-year on a constant currency basis (online NGR climbed 7%).

• Underlying EBITDA: Dropped 2% to £479 million for continuing operations, impacted by increased UK gambling taxes and an £80 million German player-claims charge.

• Adjusted Cash Flow: Improved to £43 million during the first half of the year. [1, 2]

Strategic & Portfolio Updates

• Entain CEE Exit: Agreed to an initial 20% divestment of Entain CEE for €425 million, valuing the unit at €2.1 billion with completion expected in early Q4 2026. [1, 2]

• Regional Performance: UK and Ireland online NGR grew 13%, Australia online NGR jumped 13%, while Brazil fell 25% amid fierce market competition. [1]

Dividends & Outlook

• Interim Dividend: Declared at 10.3 pence per share (totaling £65.9 million), representing a 5% increase year-over-year. It is scheduled for payment on September 28, 2026. [1]

• 2026 Guidance: Management reiterated full-year expectations for online NGR growth of 5% to 7% and underlying EBITDA between £910 million and £960 million. [1]

 

[Chief Stipe]

Slide presentation attached.

International NGR³ +3%cc³ (Online +4%cc³, Retail -2%cc³), improved during Q2 as sports margin recovered

• Australia continued to perform ahead of expectations with Online NGR2 +13%cc³, reflecting the ongoing reinvigoration of the business driving positive YoY growth and market share gains

Canada (+11%cc³), New Zealand (+21%cc³) and Spain (+28%cc³) continue to deliver double-digit Online NGR2 growth

h1-26-presentation-13082026.pdf

[hesi]

Is that good or bad from a NZ racing point of view

[Chief Stipe]

1 minute ago, hesi said:

Is that good or bad from a NZ racing point of view

Double Digit growth at 21% is great however I'd have to dig through the financials to find what that means in money terms.  Also the largest part of that increase is probably Sports betting which NZ Racing doesn't get a full clip from.

[hesi]

8 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

Double Digit growth at 21% is great however I'd have to dig through the financials to find what that means in money terms.  Also the largest part of that increase is probably Sports betting which NZ Racing doesn't get a full clip from.

In total, the TAB distributed $14.4 million in commission payments directly to 38 NSOs over the 2024 financial year, which expanded to $28.5 million total across individual sports and Sport New Zealand combined by late 2025

[Chief Stipe]

18 minutes ago, hesi said:

In total, the TAB distributed $14.4 million in commission payments directly to 38 NSOs over the 2024 financial year, which expanded to $28.5 million total across individual sports and Sport New Zealand combined by late 2025

I presume that's from TABNZ which would be reflective of what ENTAIN earnt but to get an accurate picture of the percentage increase of each betting subtype you would have to look into ENTAIN's accounts.  However if the 2026 year increase for sports in 2025 is the same as what you posted then it is possible that the double digit growth is attributable entirely to Sports i.e. racing didn't acheive anywhere near double digit growth.

[hesi]

The Racing Act is in place so for the meantime, any growth in sports betting directly benefits Racing.

The TAB was built up by racing, so I guess they are entitled to it

Without the TAB many sports mad enthusiasts would not be able to have a bet.  Yeah I know the clever ones can go offshore.

Sports are getting a piece of the pie, racing just gets a lot larger piece

[Chief Stipe]

35 minutes ago, hesi said:

The Racing Act is in place so for the meantime, any growth in sports betting directly benefits Racing.

No it doesn't.  Any Sport that has a National Organisation is entitled to their share of the profits of betting on their sport.

[curious]

27 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

No it doesn't.  Any Sport that has a National Organisation is entitled to their share of the profits of betting on their sport.

Yes but 20% isn't it? Can't see racing getting the rest lasting much longer.

[Chief Stipe]

1 hour ago, curious said:

Yes but 20% isn't it? Can't see racing getting the rest lasting much longer.

Are you sure?  The following are the Regulations pertaining to Profit Share:

5Distribution from betting profits

(1)

 

For the purposes of section 73(1) of the Act, TAB NZ must—

(a)

retain an amount that is equal to 2.5% of available profits for the purpose of carrying out its duties in relation to harm prevention and minimisation in respect of betting conducted under the Act; and

(b)

distribute the remainder of the available profits to—

(i)

Racing New Zealand (acting on behalf of the 3 racing codes in accordance with section 12 of the Act) in an amount that is equal to the percentage that racing betting has contributed to TAB NZ’s gross betting revenue; and

(ii)

Sport and Recreation New Zealand in an amount that is equal to the percentage that sports betting has contributed to TAB NZ’s gross betting revenue.

(2)  Distributions under subclause (1)(b) must be made on the date or dates agreed in writing between TAB NZ and the person to whom the distribution must be made.

[curious]

I'm not sure how that works now then. SportsNZ reported being paid about $20m in FY25. If the above is correct, then that is likely to increase dramatically on top of the other funding issues that the racing codes face in the next 2 years.

 

[Chief Stipe]

17 hours ago, curious said:

I'm not sure how that works now then. SportsNZ reported being paid about $20m in FY25. If the above is correct, then that is likely to increase dramatically on top of the other funding issues that the racing codes face in the next 2 years.

 

Those regulation amendments were passed into law in 2021. But the ENTAIN agreement seems to have muddied the waters and there may have been amenments since.

SportsNZ got a one-off paymemt of $20m in 2025 and National Sports Organisations (NSO's) $15m.  What happens this year I have no idea...yet!

This funding is one-off with no expectation of further funding in the future.

https://sportnz.org.nz/about/news-and-media/news-updates/racing-bill-amendment-passes/

[Chief Stipe]

20 hours ago, hesi said:

The TAB was built up by racing, so I guess they are entitled to it

That old Chestnut.  The TAB may have been started by Racing but it survived through the returns from Sports betting until essentially when under Racing management they took the TAB to insolvency.  Then the NZ Taxpayer bailed them out.  So who's entitled to what?

[curious]

1 hour ago, Chief Stipe said:

Those regulation amendments were passed into law in 2021. But the ENTAIN agreement seems to have muddied the waters and there may have been amendments since.

SportsNZ got a one-off paymemt of $20m in 2025 and National Sports Organisations (NSO's) $15m.  What happens this year I have no idea...yet!

This funding is one-off with no expectation of further funding in the future.

https://sportnz.org.nz/about/news-and-media/news-updates/racing-bill-amendment-passes/

Oh that was their share of the geonet payment

[curious]

OK. So, the question is what is the current split between HRNZ, NZTR and Sports? From the Racing Act as you posted, that should be proportionate to the domestic betting on the 3?

[curious]

That should read all betting on the 3, Not domestic. Here's where I got 80/20 in my head.

For the Class 4 gaming net proceeds, TAB NZ states that at least 80% must be applied to racing purposes and up to 20% may be distributed to community sport grants

[Chief Stipe]

49 minutes ago, curious said:

That should read all betting on the 3, Not domestic. Here's where I got 80/20 in my head.

 

For the Class 4 gaming net proceeds, TAB NZ states that at least 80% must be applied to racing purposes and up to 20% may be distributed to community sport grants

Class 4 is the pokies (gaming) and completely different set of rules than the betting and wagering.  There was some horse trading with the DIA, Government, TABNZ over the pokie machines and I'm not sure where that ended up.

The reality is that Racing will get very little from Sports betting if there are NSO's.

[curious]

That's my take too. What I don't get is why is everybody focused on this Establishment Group, Project Stamina and the property vehicle which are all unlikely to be in place let alone having any effect on racing's bottom line, in at least the next 2 years, when racing is facing a $30m drop in funding and probably a smaller share of what remains due to the sports % growth.  Also then no guarantees and completely exposed to any variance subject to Entain's performance. Shouldn't their plans to address that be the urgent current focus? But not a peep out of them or any media for that matter?

Edited September 4 by curious

[The Centaur]

On 3/09/2026 at 12:28 PM, hesi said:

The Racing Act is in place so for the meantime, any growth in sports betting directly benefits Racing.

The TAB was built up by racing, so I guess they are entitled to it

Without the TAB many sports mad enthusiasts would not be able to have a bet.  Yeah I know the clever ones can go offshore.

Sports are getting a piece of the pie, racing just gets a lot larger piece

A sports only online betting platform could be up and running at very low cost. A number of other players not just Entain would throw in their bids. However what no one realizes is that bookmakers are legacy - they won't exist in their current format.

[Chief Stipe]

46 minutes ago, curious said:

That's my take too. What I don't get is why is everybody focused on this Establishment Group, Project Stamina and the property vehicle which are all unlikely to be in place let alone having any effect on racing's bottom line, in at least the next 2 years, when racing is facing a $30m drop in funding and probably a smaller share of what remains due to the sports % growth.  Also then no guarantees and completely exposed to any variance subject to Entain's performance. Shouldn't their plans to address that be the urgent current focus? But not a peep out of them or any media for that matter?

My enthusiasm dropped 100 feet when I saw Dean Mckenzie brought back from academia.

[the galah]

"looking ahead,the regulating on line casino market presents an exciting opportunity for this growing market"

am i reading this right or not.

Nz racing needs to tie itself to non racing income via the tab and while sports betting is a significant factor,isn't the big hope for nz racing the tab being granted on line casino licences?

obviously the tab think so.

so chief,why does the ACT party appear to be the main stumbling block for the nz tab.

Their deputy leader and minister of internal affairs clearly on record as saying the nz tab will not get any if she has anything to do with it.

so,why would the ACT party favour off shore gambling companies over the likes of the nz tab.

 

[curious]

13 minutes ago, the galah said:

so chief,why does the ACT party appear to be the main stumbling block for the nz tab.

Their deputy leader and minister of internal affairs clearly on record as saying the nz tab will not get any if she has anything to do with it.

so,why would the ACT party favour off shore gambling companies over the likes of the nz tab.

 

Winnie said the same thing didn't he? I agree with her. It would be tragic if a government-linked statutory body were allowed to be running casino gambling. Bad enough that they remain a class4 gambling operator.

 

Edited September 4 by curious

[Chief Stipe]

4 minutes ago, curious said:

Winnie said the same thing didn't he?

 

Yes.

[curious]

18 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

Yes.

And I don't recall any minister supporting it. It would require legislation, so if it ever happens it will be a long way down the track. The winners of the current 15 licences are due to be announced soon aren't they? Oh no, maybe it's the auction this month.

 

Edited September 4 by curious

[the galah]

8 minutes ago, curious said:

Winnie said the same thing didn't he? I agree with her. It would be tragic if a government-linked statutory body were allowed to be running casino gambling. Bad enough that they remain a class4 gambling operator.

 

well if i was a betting man i would expect winston to support the tab getting on line casino licences,no matter what hes said so far..

fair enough for act to have that policy.

but personally i don't agree.

i would think profits going into nz businesses and nz people would be preferential to going into shareholders of overseas companies pockets..

Act wouldn't win many racing peoples votes with that policy.