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Revenue from land-based casinos edged up 1.5% to R3.42 billion, with Sun International’s share of the market rising 2.3% to 49%.
Sun International attributed the land-based growth to investments in product and marketing, with land-based casino GGR growing 4.4%. The company launched 876 new slot machines and stadium games during the period.
Bengtsson said the land-based growth reflected Sun International’s “strong execution and sound investment decisions”.
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Here, advertising for online betting sites is positioned differently. Presented as news, the content talks about the highest odds on the market, features offered by operators, regulatory changes and various cases of bettors, ranging from those who made huge financial gains to those who lost everything.
It is very common among the different profiles identified to refer to regulatory bodies, such as the National Advertising Self-Regulation Council and SIGAP (Brazil’s betting management system). They also speak of responsible gaming in a generic way. In many cases, this is associated with illegal operators and potentially irregular advertising practices.
In this context, the regulations developed to protect players begin to function as a means of legitimisation, with illegal operators even using the term “authorised” in their communication and the “.bet” extension in their domain, which is intended only for licensed operators.
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One answer is that the industry is no longer being valued primarily on the promise of endless growth. The market instead wants to see profit, cash generation and manageable regulation maintained across all facets of a listed business. Ed Birkin, managing director of H2 Gambling Capital, says the longer-term decline in gambling stocks runs much deeper than just changes to earnings forecasts.
“The industry share price declines have been much more severe than the cut to earnings projections which means that, while there may be some weakening in some companies’ fundamental growth drivers, the valuations that investors are putting on them have been the main driver of share price declines – although weaker fundamentals lead to lower valuations, so the reality is that they’re completely intertwined.”
Entain’s demotion comes after another – and arguably more significant – symbolic move by Flutter Entertainment. Flutter began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in January 2024 and later moved its primary listing from London to New York.
