Draftkings abandons £16bn bid for Entain

A SECOND American suitor has failed in a bid to take control of the company behind Ladbrokes and Coral.

Betting firm Draftkings yesterday abandoned plans to buy Entain for £16bn just a week after a deadline to table a firm offer was extended.

‘After several discussions with Entain leadership, Draftkings has decided that it will not make a firm offer for Entain at this time,’ said Draftkings chief executive Jason Robins.

Shares in FTSE 100 firm Entain, whose other brands include Foxy Bingo, Party Poker and Sportingbet, fell 6.3pc or 135p to 2002p, valuing it at around £12.5bn. The collapse of talks came just months after it rejected an £8bn takeover offer from US casino operator MGM Resorts International.

Entain said its board ‘strongly believes’ in its future prospects. It enjoyed a boom in online gambling through the pandemic. Events such as last summer’s European football championship revived sports betting.

Under British takeover rules, Draftkings cannot make another bid for Entain for six months unless there is a competing offer. It made a £28-per-share proposal for Entain in September after Entain rejected a £25 bid.

The talks were complicated by the BetMGM joint venture in the US between Entain and MGM, which is a rival to Draftkings.

The boss of MGM had said he would have sought to take control of BetMGM if Draftkings had agreed to buy Entain.

‘We are not surprised by this, because we viewed this deal as just too complicated to close,’ JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff said.

Dealmaking in the sector has been heating up as the US opens up to sports betting and companies tap into the expertise of companies in markets such as Britain.