Ladbrokes owner Entain hires Gavin Isaacs as its next chief executive

Gaming giant Entain has named its next chief executive seven months after its former boss announced her resignation.

Gavin Isaacs will join the owner of Coral and Foxy Bingo on 2nd September, having spent over 25 years in the sports betting, gaming and lottery sectors.

The Australian citizen is the chairman of online gaming content developer Games Global and an advisor to the board of directors of technology company Jackpocket and Indian IT group PureSoftware.

He also held senior roles at gaming machine makers Bally Technologies, Aristocrat and Scientific Games, and was a board member of DraftKings, which attempted to acquire Entain in 2021 for £16.2bn.

Isaacs replaces Stella David, who became interim CEO last December when Jette Nygaard-Andersen announced her departure after just three years in the role.

David herself will become chairman when Barry Gibson retires at the end of September after a four-and-a-half-year stint at the company.

Gibson told investors: “We are confident that his proven leadership and operational experience mean Gavin is the right person to lead Entain into its next chapter.”

‘I would also like to thank Stella David and colleagues at Entain for the significant operational improvements and progress made so far towards our strategic priorities.’

Nygaard-Andersen was the first woman to lead a UK-listed betting operator and one of the few female chief executives of a FTSE 100 company when she started at Entain.

During his tenure, he presided over numerous acquisitions, including those of Canadian rival Avid Gaming, Dutch online group BetCity and Croatia’s largest bookmaker, SuperSport.

However, this was marred by a slowdown in online sales growth, caused in part by the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, low shareholder returns and tougher regulatory measures to curb problem gambling.

She resigned shortly after Entain agreed to pay £615m to settle a bribery case with the Crown Prosecution Service relating to allegations of bribery at a Turkish company the company once owned.

Entain has since reported that net gaming revenue in the British Isles fell 7 percent in the first three months of 2024, which it attributed to “the effects of our regulatory implementation.”

Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, said: ‘Never mind a new broom; Ladbrokes owner Entain was in such a mess it needed someone armed with a mop and bucket.

Entain shares Oil prices rose 5.6 percent to 6.80 pounds on Monday morning, although they have fallen by around 47 percent in the past year.