Entain, a British betting company has revealed that it made significant gains in revenue due to the Qatar World Cup as customers gambled big time.
The company accounted that its pre-tax profits stood between $1.21 billion (£985m) and $1.23 billion (£995m) for the full year. The figure beat Entain’s previous estimate of landing anywhere between $1.1 billion (£925m) and $1.20 billion (£975m).
Despite the initial scepticism, the World Cup in Qatar happened to be one of the most entertaining and thrilling World Cups of all time. Thus, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that betting companies made a fortune during the tournament and raked in record profits.
Entain, which also owns Coral and gaming websites said its net gaming revenue rose 12 per cent in the last three months of 2022 when the World Cup took place as the consumer numbers touched record levels.
After the company released its financials, the stock market responded kindly as Entain’s shares shot up more than two per cent on the FTSE 100 during Wednesday’s trading session.
Alongside Argentina, it was Brazil, England, France and Germany that received the major share of money from the punters.
Argentina winning the World Cup was not only a monumental feat for football fans who wanted Lionel Messi – arguably the greatest footballer in history to win the trophy but also for the betting companies, who had dubbed La Albiceleste as the hot favourites.
France and Argentina squared up in the final with both Messi and Kylian Mbappe stepping up for their respective teams. In the end, it was Argentina that prevailed on the penalties to emerge victorious.
While FIFA is yet to release the complete viewership numbers, it is expected that a record number of people watched the quadrennial event which translated into extra millions of dollars for the betting companies.
(With inputs from agencies)