Entain Q3 2026: UK Online Up 14% as Brazil Drags the Group

Two numbers explain Entain Q3 2026: plus 14% and minus 36%.

The first is online net gaming revenue in the UK and Ireland, the engine of a home division that beat expectations. The second is Brazil, where revenue collapsed in the months before President Lula announced an immediate ban on online gambling on 25 September. Put together, they produced a quarter of modest headline growth: group NGR up 2% and online NGR up 3% for the three months to 30 September, according to the trading update Entain released on 15 October.

The UK online gambling market carries the quarter

Total NGR in the UK and Ireland rose 8%, ahead of expectations. Online did most of the work, up 14% on volumes 15% higher, with online gaming up 17% and sports betting up 3%. Retail added 3% on a like-for-like basis.

Outside Britain the picture was mixed. International NGR fell 4%. Italy slipped 6% as football results went customers' way, cutting sports margins by 3.1 percentage points, while New Zealand, Spain and Canada each grew online revenue by double digits. Excluding Brazil, group online NGR was up 5%.

Entain Brazil: why revenue fell 36%

Entain put Brazil's 36% fall down to disciplined marketing in a challenging market in the run-up to the ban, which landed in the final week of the quarter. The provisional measure behind the ban lasts 120 days, after which Congress must decide whether to ratify, change or drop it, and the Supreme Federal Court has been asked to overturn it. In the meantime, the shutdown is being enforced through banks and payment providers.

Chief executive Stella David told analysts she expects a return in some form. "Ask me for my best guess. I think the market will reopen in some form or another and we will be back there," she said, while admitting "we don't know exactly what's going to happen". SportingBet, Entain's Brazilian brand, is about 70% sports, which she said would leave it well placed if the market comes back as sports betting only.

Guidance, at the lower end

Entain reiterated its full-year 2026 guidance, but leaned to the bottom of it: online NGR growth of 4% to 6% at constant currency (5% to 7% excluding Brazil, at the upper end), underlying EBITDA at the lower end of £910 million to £960 million, and an online EBITDA margin at the low end of 21% to 22%. The guidance assumes Brazil stays closed for the rest of the year. BetMGM, the US joint venture, kept its targets too, also pointing to the lower end.