Key Points
- BlackRock surpassed 5.01% in Entain on 31 July as the firm bought back its shares that it had recently reduced by using a combination of direct equity, ADRs, securities lending, and cash-settled contracts for difference.
- The UK’s Remote Gaming Duty doubled from 21% to 40% in April 2026, contributing an additional £200 million in annual cost for Entain and requiring 500 layoffs which Entain had earlier claimed it would not do.
- Entain is now the sole gambling company in the FTSE 100 after the delisting of Flutter from the London Stock Exchange in late July.
BlackRock Quietly Rebuilds Its Entain Bet, Just Before Quarterly Results Land
Just six weeks after cutting its holdings to beneath the disclosure threshold, BlackRock has made a comeback at Entain. According to a regulatory document, the world’s largest investment firm has taken another 0.95% of the voting shares of the company listed on the FTSE 100 with a total shareholding of 5.01% up until 31 July 2026. Entain was informed about the move on 3 August.
This move came at a purposeful time because next week, Entain will be publishing its quarterly report, the first to include information on both the World Cup trading and the expense of a new tax policy that affected the online gambling industry in Britain.
How BlackRock Structured the Position?
This total of 32,264,354 voting rights cannot be achieved only through open-market share purchases. From this total, 26,038,814 come from direct share ownership, with the rest from three other categories, being 191,404 from American Depository Receipts, 1,237,531 from security lending transactions, and 4,796,603 from cash-settled contracts for differences. Derivatives together with direct equities help a large fund to exceed the disclosure limit while maintaining the flexibility to liquidate their position in case the environment changes. This report was submitted by the London branch of BlackRock located at 12 Throgmorton Avenue.
The Tax Shock That Changed Entain’s Cost Structure
Context for this investment includes one of the biggest policy shocks to have hit the British gambling industry in many years. Remote Gaming Duty increased from 21% to 40% in April 2026, according to an announcement made in November 2025 by Chancellor Rachel Reeves. This increase is estimated to add approximately £200 million to Entain’s yearly expenses. All online gambling companies that earn money from UK operations had to face this shock, but being the biggest listed company in the industry, Entain has received the most scrutiny.
By July, the pressure produced a public reversal. Entain confirmed it would cut around 500 roles, approximately 2% of its global workforce, across corporate, product and technology functions. CEO Stella David had said in March that job cuts were not part of the plan and that the company intended to offset more than half of the added tax burden through other cost measures. Reduced marketing spend and trimmed customer bonuses are now alongside those redundancies as the main tools Entain is using to protect its margins.
The Only Gambling Stock Left in the FTSE 100
Entain’s structural position in the London market shifted at the end of July, when Flutter Entertainment completed its LSE delisting. Flutter had moved its primary listing from London to New York in 2024, citing the depth of US capital markets and the dominance of FanDuel in American sports betting. Its full departure from the LSE leaves Entain as the sole gambling company in the FTSE 100 and the largest gambling operator on the exchange by some distance. Its nearest London-listed peer, Playtech, sits more than £2 billion behind it on market capitalisation.
That scarcity value is real. Fund managers that track or benchmark against the FTSE 100 now have one listed gambling stock to choose from. That did not exist six months ago; Flutter’s exit created it.
BetMGM Dulls the US Growth Story
Entain’s 50% ownership in BetMGM was supposed to be the growth driver to counter the pressure from Europe. However, the latest outlook from the venture proved that narrative wrong. BetMGM indicated that its full-year net revenue and adjusted EBITDA are set to come in at the low end of its $2.9 billion to $3.1 billion and $300 million to $350 million estimate range respectively. The market reacted negatively to the news about Entain. Given BetMGM’s reduced guidance, Entain’s quarterly results by Entain next week will be critical.
Who Else Is Sitting on the Register?
BlackRock’s performance is no stand-alone figure. JPMorgan Chase increased its holdings in Entain to 7%, which crossed the 5% disclosure limit on 8 May 2026, only to reduce the share to below 3% again in two weeks. Capital Research and Management Company is still the largest shareholder, with a holding of about 10%, while Dodge & Cox of San Francisco has about 9.2%. The New York hedge fund Eminence Capital, which had been holding 5.8%, completely sold out its shares in May following the retirement of Ricky Sandler from active business management.
The pattern is notable. Entain’s largest institutional holders are predominantly American, despite the company’s European brand identity and LSE listing. That concentration helps explain why BetMGM occupies such a large share of analyst questions and management bandwidth, the shareholders who move Entain’s price are based in New York, Boston, and San Francisco, and they measure Entain primarily through its US exposure.
What the Results Need to Show?
Entain’s upcoming quarterly update needs to answer three questions. Did World Cup betting activity provide enough revenue uplift to offset the tax drag? Is the cost-cutting moving quickly enough to show in the margin line? And does BetMGM’s lowered guidance reflect a temporary reset or something more structural?
BlackRock increased its position ahead of those results. The firm manages more than $15.3 trillion in assets, which puts a 5% stake in a £3.55 billion company firmly in the minor allocation category. But the decision to rebuild rather than hold or exit is still a signal. Large asset managers do not disclose reasons in regulatory filings. What this one confirms is that BlackRock saw more value in owning a larger slice of Entain on 31 July than it did a few weeks prior.
For the wider market, the question is whether Entain’s share price, down over 70% across five years, has already absorbed the worst of the regulatory and tax pressure, or whether the results next week reveal more to come.
Expert Analysis
BlackRock’s rebuilt position reflects a specific read: that Entain’s share price has over-corrected on regulatory risk and that its new status as the benchmark listed gambling stock in the UK gives it structural relevance that was not priced in before Flutter left. The Remote Gaming Duty increase is severe, but it is sector-wide, not Entain-specific. What is specific to Entain is its new monopoly position in the FTSE 100 as the only listed gambling operator, a profile that institutional fund managers cannot replicate elsewhere on the London exchange. BlackRock appears to have made that calculation before the quarterly results land. Whether the numbers next week justify it is the only thing left to find out.
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