Entain upgraded its outlook on profitability as revenue grew in the fourth quarter of the year, led by a boost from retail growth. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation, or EBITDA, was expected to be in the range of £875 million to £885 million, ahead of previous expectations.

For the period from 1 October to 31 December 2021, net gaming revenue was up 4%, as retail grew 60% year-on-year, offsetting a 9% decline in online gaming revenue, which was due to ‘particularly strong comparatives,’ the company said. For the full-year 2021, net gaming revenue rose 7%, with online growth up 12% offsetting a 3% decline in retail growth amid the impact of pandemic restrictions.

Jette Nygaard-Andersen, Entain’s CEO, commented:“2021 has been a successful and eventful period for Entain, and our market-leading platform has driven another year of strong, sustainable and diversified growth. All of our major markets have performed well.  BetMGM, our hugely exciting business in the US, has been a particular highlight with FY21 net gaming revenue ahead of expectations and an upgraded outlook for 2022.

We have also made significant operational progress and have continued to provide our customers with even better content, experiences and excitement as the worlds of media, entertainment, technology and gaming converge.

As ever, our sustainability efforts have been at the core of everything that we do. We have continued to lead the way in the critically important area of player protection, and our technology-based Advanced Responsibility and Care programme is progressing well.

We continue to see significant growth opportunities ahead of us, with a total addressable market of around $160bn across our new and existing markets, as well as in emerging areas of interactive entertainment.  We believe these opportunities will enable us to at least treble the size of our business. As a result, we remain confident in our prospects for the year ahead and beyond.”