Directors’ Deals: Entain’s new finance chief builds stake
Brazil’s online gambling ban likely to hit group profits
Entain shares are down by half over the past 12 months, which is unsurprising given the wave of regulatory obstacles that have hit the gambling sector in recent months.
It has made for a bumpy start for new chief financial officer Michael Snape, who succeeded his longstanding predecessor Rob Wood this spring, just weeks before UK remote gaming duty almost doubled to 40 per cent in April.
Wood’s parting promise was to offset half of the financial impact from higher UK levies partly by using AI to reduce marketing costs. This cost-focused approach has no doubt informed the new CFO’s strategy to protect earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of between £910mn and £960mn for the 2026 financial year.
But the goal took a fresh hit this week after Brazil provisionally banned all online gambling with immediate effect, in a sudden move that rocked investor confidence in the sector.
While Entain maintained its earnings guidance, the Ladbrokes owner conceded that profit may now sit closer to the “lower end” of its forecast range. Brazil makes up 5 per cent of Entain’s online gaming revenue.
For Snape, who spent £249,992 on 51,815 shares 10 days before the announcement, the 482p a share he paid now looks a little rich.
Still, it’s a purchase that was likely made with Entain’s minimum shareholding requirements in mind rather than a case of opportunistic buying. As a newly minted executive, Snape is required to build a stake equivalent to 350 per cent of his £595,000 salary.
Starting from nil at the time of the group’s 2025 annual report, the finance chief has been quietly adding to his holdings and now owns 64,634 shares. Entain allows its executives five years to build their stakes to the required level.
