Rio Stars

About Rio Stars

Several other operators have responded to the UK tax hikes by announcing shop closures.

In March, William Hill told staff it plans to permanently close approximately 200 of its retail shops in the UK, around 15% of Evoke’s retail estate.

Last month, meanwhile, Betfred announced plans to shutter 132 of its UK betting shops, reducing its workforce by over 600 employees.

About Rio Stars

According to the deal investor deck, the combined group expects online betting and gaming to be its largest vertical, as it accounted for 48% of the group’s combined pro forma adjusted EBITDA in H1.

Distributed gaming followed at 27%, then casinos at 25%.

Again highlighting his view that this was a low-risk merger, Angelozzi described Spain and Italy as “among the best globally” in terms of markets.

What is Rio Stars?

Entain’s share price tumble follows a broader trend for gaming stocks in recent years. Added to that is a declining interest in the LSEG, as listed companies continue to exit at pace, including Flutter, which removed its secondary listing from LSEG in August.

The gaming giant left for greener pastures in the US, expecting to benefit from higher valuations in the most liquid equity market. But analysts have noted a similar downward trend in Flutter’s share price over time.

Down around 60% in a year, the risk is it becomes just another mid-tier consumer stock on a bigger exchange. “Deeper water doesn’t help if the current is moving somewhere else,” Corfai’s Ben Robinson recently said of Flutter’s stock price.