V is for victory
Penn signals end of dispute with activist investor
New “mutually agreed” board appointments but online issues persist.
In +More: DraftKings restructuring its online business, says analyst.
E+M PRO: Super Group and Light & Wonder report.
Venture playground: Looking into Novig’s $75m Series B raise.
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End of hostilities
This is your victory: Alongside the news of the appointment of three new independent directors to the board at Penn Entertainment, the company also said it had reached a cooperation agreement with activity investor HG Vora.
The agreement signals a truce in a long-running proxy battle, with both parties agreeing to mutual non-disparagement obligations.
As part of the deal, HG Vora has agreed to dismiss its pending federal lawsuit against Penn with prejudice, while Penn is now committed to reimbursing HG Vora’s documented expenses.
In return, HG Vora has agreed to standstill restrictions, including not soliciting proxies, proposing shareholder resolutions or seeking additional board seats.
War of independence: Joining the board with immediate effect are Heather Ace, EVP and chief human resources officer at Qualcomm; Jeffrey Fox, CEO and founder at Circumference Group; and Fabio Schiavolin, the former Snaitech CEO.
The board now comprises 11 directors, including Johnny Hartnett and Carlos Ruisanchez, two HG Vora nominees who were elected last June.
It means that five of the members are now independent.
Peace in our time: David Handler, chair at Penn, was less than fulsome in his comments attached to the appointments.
“On behalf of the board, we are pleased to welcome Heather, Jeff and Fabio, highly accomplished individuals who each bring deeply relevant experience,” his statement read.
The cooperation agreement brings to an end a bitter fight over the future of Penn Entertainment, which saw the activist investment group attacking Penn for its online strategy and successive costly failures related to its Barstool Sportsbook and ESPN Bet adventures.
The latter was brought to a halt in November last year when Penn pulled the plug a little after two years.
Penn CEO Jay Snowden said at the time the company would now “realign” its digital focus to its “growing iCasino business.”
D-Day: The latest update to its efforts will come on Thursday when Penn reports its Q4 earnings. In a preview note issued earlier this week, Stifel said that while they “like” the setup for retail, the focus for investors would be on what the company said about online.
The team pointed out that back in November, Penn maintained its FY26 adj. EBITDA target for interactive of “breakeven or better.”
This implies, Stifel suggested, “meaningful” (estimated at) ~$250m-$300m YoY adj. EBITDA improvement.
A bridge too far: But with the savings related to ESPN Bet “only partly” bridging to guidance, the team said investors they have spoken to “remain skeptical given the magnitude of guided improvement, potential transition churn and unchanged fully owned tech strategy.”
This, they argued, has “created a challenging setup despite potential upside to retail estimates.”
Still, Penn’s share price rose 4.5% yesterday.
Diary date: The company will report its earnings pre-open tomorrow, February 26, while the call with the analysts is scheduled for 8am ET. E+M PRO will send out a Penn earnings edition late morning, eastern.
Prior to the news of the new board members and the truce with HG Vora, E+M issued an Earnings Preview.
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+More
Reconstruction time again: DraftKings is restructuring some key roles within its business, according to analysis of recent LinkedIn posts by the team at Citizens. The operator has confirmed to the analysts that a reorganization has “impacted roles within the company,” while Citizens estimated a headcount reduction of 5% resulting in annualized cost savings of ~$30m.
Kambi has announced it will provide retail sports betting to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation’s 4 Bears Casino in North Dakota, replacing the property’s existing platform. Under the terms of the deal. Kambi will provide self-service kiosks, OTC terminals and its bring-your-own-device tech. The deal will be expanded to encompass OSB should North Dakota move to regulate.
NorthStar Gaming plans to cut general and administrative expenses by approximately C$3m ($2.2m) in 2026 as part of a broader push toward profitability. Interim CEO Corey Goodman said most measures are already in place.
Deal talk
Fanatics is reported to have reached an agreement to acquire an unnamed, CFTC-licensed designated contract market exchange, according to Front Office Sports. As it stands, Fanatics’ prediction markets offering is routed via Crypto.com.
E+M PRO
Super Group
The beautiful (casino) game: Super Group’s guidance of at least $2.55bn in revenue and more than $680m in EBITDA in 2026 includes the prospects of FIFA World Cup – and particularly casino cross-sell – tailwinds.
See yesterday’s Earnings Extra edition (PRO subscribers only).
Light & Wonder
Achieving your goals: Light & Wonder delivered a decisive finish to its three-year transformation cycle, posting record Q4 adj. EBITDA of $405m, a 29% YoY leap, with margin expansion across all three business segments for both the quarter and the full year.
See today’s Earnings Extra edition to be sent later this morning (PRO subs only).
Earnings
Tabcorp: Investors gave a warm reception to today’s report, sending the shares up 23% after the operator delivered a solid first half, with group EBITDA up 14.3% to A$217m ($154m) despite a challenging yield environment during the Aussie Rules Finals and Spring Racing Carnival.
Investors would also have been cheered by the news that the regulator ACMA has cleared a trial of the ‘tap in-play’ feature within its retail offering.
Revenue grew a modest 1% to A$1.34bn, but the real story was cost discipline.
Underlying opex fell 3.7%, driving a 190bps margin expansion to 16.2% and lifting NPAT before significant items by 61.5% to $35.7m.
Sport turnover rose 6.9% and digital-in-venue grew 12.3%, though domestic wagering revenue ex-license actually declined 2.5% on soft yields.
The balance sheet is in good shape at 1.5x leverage.
Looking ahead, management expects a similar turnover environment in H226 with an extra ~$5m spend on FIFA World Cup marketing.
CEO Gillon McLachlan struck a measured tone, suggesting progress was real, but the turnaround story still has chapters to write.
Brightstar Lottery: The global lottery operator and supplier reported modest but better-than-expected top-line and profit growth in Q4, supported primarily by elevated US jackpot activity and continued momentum in digital lottery channels.
Q4 revenue increased 3% YoY to $668m, reflecting 3.5% same-store sales growth, driven largely by strong US multi-state jackpot performance and expanding iLottery participation.
Adj. EBITDA rose 5% YoY to $304m with margin expanding to 45.5% from 44.5%.
The improvement was driven by high operational leverage from jackpot-driven wager volumes alongside cost efficiencies delivered through the company’s OPtiMa savings programme.
These gains were partly offset by increased investment spending and transition-related costs tied to portfolio changes.
For the full year, performance was more mixed. FY25 revenue was broadly flat at $2.51bn, while adj. EBITDA declined 4% YoY to $1.12bn, reflecting lower product sales timing, reduced incentives and investment ramp-up following strategic restructuring actions.
Earnings in brief
Bragg Gaming: In an unscheduled update, the supplier said FY25 performance will land within previously issued guidance, supported by continued expansion in higher-margin proprietary content. Q4 revenue is expected to reach €27.7m, up 1.8% YoY, while adj. EBITDA of €4.6m was broadly stable YoY. For FY25, revenue is projected at €106m, up 4% YoY, with adj. EBITDA rising to €16.6m. Bragg also guided 2026 revenue of €97m-€104.5m and adj. EBITDA of €16m-€19m, as regulatory and tax pressures weigh on top-line growth.
Gentoo Media: Q4 revenue reached €25.6m, up 13% QoQ but down 16% YoY, while EBITDA before special items soared by 60% QoQ to €14.9m. Operating cash flow hit €11.5m. The company said it exited 2025 with improved cash conversion and a leaner operating model, and maintained its 2026 guidance of €105m-€115m in revenue and €49m-€54m in EBITDA.
GiG Software: Q4 revenue rose to €9.5m, up 8% YoY, while adj. EBITDA improved by €1.4m YoY to €1.5m, reflecting operating leverage and tighter cost control. The company delivered double-digit annual revenue growth and its first FY positive adj. EBITDA of €4.3m vs. a loss of €3m in the prior year.
Gaming Corps: The supplier saw a record Q4 with net sales rising 55% YoY to SEK15.1m ($1.67m), contributing to full-year net sales growth of 38% to SEK48.7m. EBITDA losses narrowed despite continued investment, while operating loss improved to a loss of SEK8.7m in the quarter.
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Venture playground
Novig raise
Fail harder: The news last week that Novig has raised $75m in a Series B funding round led by Pantera Capital, valuing the firm at $500m, set the seal on the company’s latest pivot towards sports predictions.
Indeed, its previous funding rounds tell the story of Novig’s evolution.
Back in August 2023, the then P2P betting exchange raised $6m ahead of a planned launch into regulated OSB markets, starting with Colorado.
Another bite at the cherry: Its next funding event came in August of last year when it raised $18m in a Series A funding round after the company had successfully pivoted towards a sweepstakes model the previous September.
But by the turn of this year, news broke that it was applying for a designated contract market license from the CFTC as it switched once more, this time to prediction markets.
It is a meaningful move as evidenced by the names now appearing on the cap table, including several from the crypto funding space, such as lead backer Pantera Capital, Multicoin Capital, Makers Fund and Edge Equity.
Founder Jacob Fortinsky said his firm chose to partner with the “best crypto venture firms in the world to further accelerate our plans to make Novig the most efficient and liquid sports prediction market in the world.”
Paul Veradittakit, managing partner at Pantera Capital, said Novig was “proving” prediction markets can “fundamentally reshape sports betting by removing the exploitative middleman.”
Pred raise
Pred hot: Meanwhile, a new prediction market operator called Pred has raised $2.5m from a funding round led by Accel with participation from BEF by Coinbase Ventures and Reverie.
Pred said it is building a sports prediction exchange on Base, Coinbase’s layer-2 blockchain network.
Stoked: Separately, a professional trading terminal for prediction markets called Fireplace, has raised $1.5m in a pre-seed funding round led by Frachtis and with participation from White Star Capital and others.
The company is building a unified terminal that aggregates markets, liquidity and execution across venues, delivering real-time data, institution-grade execution, advanced charting and wallet infrastructure powered by its in-house Enclave Money stack.
Akshay Rajagopal, co-founder and CTO, said prediction markets “needed their own Bloomberg terminal.”
What we’re reading
Building the safety rails: Adam Warrington from Underdog went on LinkedIn to discuss how GuardDog has sifted through 40-plus company evaluations since launch in 2023 in order to fund “applied, deployable technology that can be integrated into real products and real player experiences.” He added: “We structured GuardDog like a VC fund because we believe in having skin in the game alongside the founders we back.”
Growth company news
Elantil has added Storm Games online casino games to its online marketplace. ST8 is providing its online casino aggregation platform to Tonybet in Ontario, Canada.
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