UK 19:10 Saturday, 3 October 2026
Breaking news and expert analysis on fast-moving AIM and LSE listed shares
I was at about eleven or twelve, when a teacher at school said that the stock market was "gambling". I doubt if the vast majority of us would agree with that, especially if you spend a good chunk of your time undertaking fundamental research. As for gambling, I do a little bit of it beyond the Grand National, but so little that Entain (ENT) - which owns the Ladbrokes, Coral, BetMGM, Ladbrokes Australia, TAB NZ, Eurobet, Sportingbet and 365Scores brands - will be uninterested in having me as a client. I have made decent money via Entain as it happens, but that is all to do with doubling my share position during early COVID, and being wise enough not to fully exit the shares until they were getting close to a 2000 pence share price. Gambling, eh?!
I am sure that there are a significant minority of people out there who regard investment as gambling…and then are grumpy when their corporate pension fund sometimes does not go up (let alone their house - or houses - price). Whilst I am all over investment, I regard fully owning one house as more than enough and I gamble via the bwin, Coral, Ladbrokes, PartyPoker and Sportingbet owner Entain (ENT) infrequently. However, whilst I might not be one of its target customers, I do keep an eye on the FTSE 100 name as I got lucky on the stock as an investor during the early Covid-19 period.
The sports gambling world is changing. It is not just that if we want to put ten quid on the Grand National, we access the internet rather than pretending we know how to go into a bookies, but is a reference to the UK gambling regulator’s new white paper which could be published by Easter. I say ‘could’ because it is already late, and lots has happened in the gambling world during the COVID-19 era period already.
The first time I mentioned shares in the international sports betting and gambling company Entain (ENT) it was known as GVC and we knew it best for brands such as bwin, Coral, Ladbrokes, Foxy Bingo, Gala, partypoker and PartyCasino. But I noted back in July, whilst you could make positive chat about the then European football championship, on the growth of its BetMGM exposure ‘the US is playing catch-up given a lot of online sports gambling has only recently been allowed’. You can call if right or wrong, but that is a 2020s reality.
It is nice to see Entain (ENT) shares pushing up to a new all-time high today. It took a bit of time for my Christmas 2019 tip to work out and - helped by doubling up my exposure a few months later - an investment in the company originally known as the ‘international sports betting and gambling company GVC’ has worked out really well.
Back in early March, here, I talked about the fantastic performance of Entain (ENT) which was originally known as GVC. The shares have really had a remarkable last year and - especially if you added back in the dog days of March-May last year - it has been a good ‘un. After all, whilst we used to go to a betting shop, nowadays so much of the focus is on online sports betting and gaming, meaning ownership of Ladbrokes, Coral, BetMGM, Bwin, Sportingbet, Eurobet, partypoker, partycasino, Gala and Foxy Bingo gives you a bunch of different and successful franchises.
