Not dead yet
JenningsBet CEO says betting shops have a future despite tax threat
Greg Knight says the government must recognize high-street contribution.
In +More: Meta reportedly made a Kalshi buyout approach.
Puts+takes: There could be more carveouts at Entain, say analysts.
Adjacencies: Tokenization provider Securitize debuts in New York.
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The state of independents
The devil came and took me: The UK betting shop’s obituary has been written many times but Greg Knight, CEO of JenningsBet, is not yet ready to sign it off, despite the latest threat coming from the Social Market Foundation’s (SMF’s) 40% machine games duty (MGD) proposal.
From bar to street to bookie: Speaking to Earnings+More shortly before the SMF published its proposal to double MGD on Category B machines, Knight presented a picture of a retail bookmaking sector that is contracting but far from disappearing.
The future, in his view, lies in fewer, better-invested shops taking a larger share of a market that has found a more sustainable level.
“I don’t think we’re ever going to grow the existing market,” Knight said, before prophesying a reduction in overall shop numbers.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s doomed,” he added. “It means we’re right-sizing from its peak.”
It’s his lucky day, that’s a given: JenningsBet opened its 200th shop this year, having doubled its estate from around 100 branches, in an expansion that has largely come through acquiring smaller independents and providing straightforward economies of scale.
It can then lift the performance of acquired shops through refurbishment, technology and improved presentation.
Knight described the result as closer to a modern sports bar than the stereotypical betting shop: light, bright and comfortable, with large screens and self-service technology.
The suggestion is that some of the larger betting-shop estates are caught in a downward spiral where a lack of capital expenditure leaves shops looking tired, which weakens customer traffic and makes it still harder to justify further investment.
I came in here for that special offer: JenningsBet’s revenues are growing year on year, but the pattern of betting has changed. Self-service betting terminals are now the main growth product, while machine gaming revenue is holding steady.
The customer base is also broader than the industry’s image might suggest. “It’s not as if it’s literally a load of pensioners in cloth caps sitting in these shops anymore,” Knight said. “That’s probably the biggest surprise to people. It’s a varied age group.”
The changing high street could even work in retail betting’s favor. As traditional shopping declines, town centers are becoming more focused on leisure, hospitality and social experiences.
Betting shops can fit into that mix, particularly when they provide the sense of shared participation that online cannot fully replicate.
Do you want to work in C&A, ’cause that’s what they expect? Yet Knight was clear that the sector’s greatest risks sit largely outside its control: cost inflation, increases in the minimum wage and National Insurance changes can tip marginal shops into losses.
Regulation remains an ever-present concern, while horseracing’s media-rights demands are placing further strain on shop economics.
Knight said his Arena Racing Company bill rose 30% during the 2025 renewal round.
“Media rights costs have risen so sharply over the last few years that that’s probably a bigger threat than anything [Chancellor] Rachel Reeves throws at us,” he said.
You’re in a bad way: That assessment came before the SMF produced a very specific fiscal threat. Machines account for approximately half of betting-shop revenue, making the proposal potentially existential for much of the estate.
Regulus Partners calculates that doubling the MGD rate would make the betting shop and adult gaming center sectors structurally loss-making.
Its modeling suggests approximately 4,000 of Britain’s 5,500 betting shops could close, costing around 25,000 jobs and £100m in media-rights and levy income for British horseracing.
And I can help you through: Responding after the report’s publication, Knight put the argument in more tangible terms. JenningsBet’s recently opened Watford shop required an investment of approximately £200k-£250k.
“That money went to three carpenters, two plumbers, two electricians, two floor layers, two painters and decorators, a roofing company and a marketing company,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
“We also created five new local jobs directly on top of all of that. These are real people with real businesses and livelihoods.”
Just dial my number or call my name: Tax policy that “doesn’t account for the kind of investment we make up and down the country doesn’t just hit businesses like JenningsBet,” Knight added. “It hits every contractor, tradesperson and local job that comes with us opening on the high street.”
“You may not like the gambling industry, and that’s a fair position to hold. But you can’t argue with what we put back into the economy and the high street.”
The future depends on the government distinguishing between a mature sector gradually restructuring itself and one capable of absorbing another major tax increase without consequence.
“We’ve been down this road before, and we proved the SMF were talking rubbish,” Knight wrote. “Let’s hope we don’t have to do it again with a new Chancellor.”
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+More
Meta considered acquiring Kalshi before deciding to build its own prediction market app, NPR reported. The tech company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg met Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour last year, but talks did not progress. Sources offered differing explanations, including Mansour’s reluctance to sell and Meta’s concerns over Kalshi’s legal and ethical complications. Meta is now developing Arena, an AI-powered app using play money rather than cash wagers.
MGM Resorts: Law firm Bleichmar Fonti & Auld (BFA) has launched an investigation into Barry Diller’s $48.30-a-share bid for MGM Resorts through People Inc, examining potential conflicts because Diller sits on MGM’s board and controls its largest shareholder. BFA is inviting current shareholders to submit information regarding the proposed transaction as part of its review.
Deal talk
Esportes da Sorte has acquired Apostou.com, gaining control of federally licensed BETBR Loterias and its B1BET and BRBET brands. The transaction is subject to review by Brazil’s competition authority CADE.
Read across
Renewed hostilities: Less than a year after UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves sharply increased taxes on online gaming in the Autumn Budget, the Social Market Foundation has returned with a fresh proposal that could prove equally controversial for the land-based industry. From Tuesday’s Compliance+More.
Safe from harm: A research paper on affordability checks may have done something the UK gambling debate has largely failed to do: put numbers around the trade-off between preventing harm and preserving liberty. From yesterday’s C+M.
+More careers
Ian Bradley, most recently SVP at DraftKings, has been appointed as the co-CEO of Tier-1 B2B sportsbook technology provider FIRST.bet. Hugo Baungartner, chief business officer at Grupo Esportes Gaming Brasil, has announced on LinkedIn that his time at the company now “draws to a close.” Baungartner joined the company in May 2025. Macau gaming operator SJM has appointed former NagaCorp CFO Sean Tan as its new CFO. Daniel O’Donoghue has joined Aristocrat Interactive as COO. He was previously COO for iGaming at Light & Wonder.
Head of VIP & Loyalty – United States
Head of Acquisition – United States
Director of Casino Operations – United States
E+M PRO – Aristocrat
Creative sparks: Content remained the unifying theme in Aristocrat’s investor presentation this week, but the company placed AI at the center of efforts to increase creative output, move games between channels and turn proprietary data into products for operators.
See yesterday’s Earnings Debrief edition (PRO subs only).
Puts+takes – Entain
Next on the block: Entain’s Italian operations could be the group’s next major disposal following the agreement to sell an initial 20% stake in its Central and Eastern European business, according to the analysts at Rothschild & Co Redburn.
The Eurobet and Gioco Digitale assets would be “highly coveted by both financial and strategic buyers,” potentially unlocking £1.2bn-£1.6bn at an 8x-9x EBITDA multiple, the team argued.
Entain holds an estimated 8% share of Italy’s online gambling market but remains behind larger rivals Lottomatica and Flutter.
The team suggested that, allied to the gains from the CEE disposal, an Italian sale could see Entain “aggressively” cut its net debt to ~£1.5bn.
Eyes on the prize: BetMGM is “the main prize within Entain,” the analysts argued, and if this were to be added to the list of divestments then it would “unlock significant capital” while also pushing Entain leverage ratio to below the company’s own target of 2x-3x.
A smaller, less complex group would also be “more digestible” for investors and could help address Entain’s persistent valuation discount.
Sidebar: The Rothschild & Co Redburn team suggested Entain “never got the credit” for the CEE business from investors, noting the company’s overall EV/EBITDA valuation fell from 6.4x at the time of the original deal in August 2022 to the current 3.8x.
While revenues for the business did grow under Entain’s stewardship this was mainly due to it being combined with the subsequent STS acquisition.
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Connections
Changing places: The dislocation in English football sponsorships dominated this week as clubs negotiated the switch from front-of-shirt to sleeve or alternatively down a division to the Championship. Stake did the sleeve switch at Everton while retail financial trader CMC Markets took the main front slot.
Meanwhile, BoyleSports renewed its front-of-shirt sponsorship of West Ham United for the forthcoming season following the club’s relegation to the second tier. At the same time, Midnite is the new front-of-short sponsor at Middlesbrough and has renewed with Sheffield United, while Betano has been announced as the training kit sponsor at Tottenham.
PartnerMatrix has entered an exclusive collaboration with Spribe’s Broadway Platform to distribute its agent system across Broadway’s international network. Octoplay has secured conditional approval from Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis. Its games have also launched with Lottomart in the UK, while technology provider St8 expanded its Octoplay partnership to cover both Ontario and Britain.
PopOK Gaming continued its regulated-market expansion by securing certification in Argentina and an iGaming licence in Portugal. Elsewhere in Latin America, Push Gaming launched its casino content with KTO Casino in Brazil. Entain extended its relationship with betting technology supplier Sporting Risk into Northern and Central Europe.
DAZN launched its DAZN Bet sportsbook and online casino in Ontario, marking the brand’s first entry into a North American regulated market. Soft2Bet is also entering Ontario with WPT Royale, a casino and sportsbook developed under a strategic brand-licensing agreement with the World Poker Tour.
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Adjacencies – tokenization
Do you think I’m SECZ? Tokenization got its first proper public-markets test this week as Securitize, the BlackRock-backed digital securities outfit, began trading on the NYSE under the ticker SECZ.
Yesterday’s float came via a SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners II, a blank check vehicle backed by Cantor Fitzgerald.
The combination should deliver roughly $400m in gross proceeds after holders of less than 30% of the SPAC’s common shares opted to redeem.
As an opening gambit, Securitize immediately tokenized its own shares.
SECZ boy: Securitize is no minnow: eight years old, with more than $4bn under administration as of June, and a client roster running to Apollo, BNY, Hamilton Lane and KKR. Its single largest product is BlackRock’s BUIDL money-market token, worth $2.4bn at last count.
In March, it struck an agreement with the NYSE to develop systems for blockchain-native securities.
Meet the Flintstones: CEO Carlos Domingo has reached for the milestone language, arguing that tokenization has shifted from abstract plumbing to an emerging bedrock for modern finance, and that a listing buys visibility, credibility and capital.
He is also a purist on method, insisting securities be issued directly on-chain rather than wrapped in digital shells.
Too SECZ for my shirt: The timing, though, sits awkwardly. Last month, the SEC pulled back from releasing its “innovation exemption,” a sandbox-style carveout that would have let US crypto firms trade tokenized equities, after stock-exchange officials and other participants raised objections.
The sticking point is over a provision permitting third-party tokens, i.e. digital representations of company shares minted without the issuer’s knowledge or approval.
Former regulators warned that such tokens, multiplying across networks, could create thorny problems for administering dividends and counting shareholder votes.
Upcoming earnings
Jul 17: Evolution, Betsson
Jul 21: Hacksaw Gaming
Jul 22: Kambi
Jul 29: Churchill Downs (earnings)
Jul 30: Churchill Downs (call)
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