European gambling firms’ shares slide again amid global sell-offs

Global stocks continued to plummet on Monday morning after US President Donald Trump launched his tariff war last week, as investors maintained their sell position across Asia and Europe.

Trump’s tariff plans, which were announced on 2 April, led to one of the largest two-day sell-off periods in modern history last Thursday and Friday.

Comparable mass sell-offs include the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and the global recession in 2008.

Today, 7 April, the stock disposals continued, with Japan’s Nikkei tumbling almost 8% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 13%.

Those declines were replicated in Europe when stock markets opened, with the FTSE 250 in London down 5%, at the time of writing.

London-listed gambling companies remain caught up in the stock market crumble, with Entain and evoke both sliding today.

Entain’s shares were down 2.7% to 474p, having lost 16% of value over the past five days. The stock is up slightly.

The Ladbrokes Coral parent company’s market cap now sits a little over £3bn and its share price is down from a 52-week high of 862p.

In September 2021, DraftKings announced it was considering a $22.4bn bid for the FTSE 100 firm before ultimately walking away the following month.

In January of that year, MGM Resorts International bid £8.1bn to acquire the multi-brand, multi-national business, which was ultimately rebuffed.

Evoke, the parent company of William Hill and 888, has seen its shares slide almost 2% this morning down to 39p, giving the business a market cap of just £180m.

The group’s shares have slumped 44% over the past month, with its full-year 2024 results not being well received by the market at the end of March.

Similarly, the business, when it was known as 888, acquired William Hill’s non-US assets for more than £2bn in July 2022.

Omnichannel operator Rank Group’s stock is down 2.3% to 76p, having gone over 90p a share earlier this year.

Playtech, which has announced its intention to focus solely on its B2B operations, has seen its stock slip 1.4% to 640p.

Elsewhere in Europe this morning, Germany’s DAX is down 3.9%, the French CAC 40 has slipped 3.9% and Spain’s IBEX 35 is also down 4.5%.

In France, FDJ United’s stock is down almost 1% and Milan-listed Lottomatica is down 1.5%, as the continental operators remain caught up in the downward spiral.

On the affiliate front, Catena Media is down 7.2% to SEK1.8 (14p), Better Collective is down 2% in Sweden and Gentoo Media stock has fallen 1%.

At close of market on Friday, 4 April, US stocks were also decimated, with China’s decision to implement a reciprocal 34% tariff on US imports further spooking investors.

Flutter was down a further 4%, with its market cap taking another hit. The FanDuel parent had been worth more than $50bn in mid-February; its valuation currently sits at $36.6bn.

The likes of DraftKings, PENN Entertainment, Caesars and a host of other operators were also all down by close of play on Friday.

In today’s edition of the Winning Post, boutique analyst firm Regulus Partners said the impact on consumer-facing industries, including gambling, would be “profound” following Trump’s actions.

The firm wrote: “We believe Trump’s tariff policies will have an enormous ripple effect on US and global gambling therefore, but the impact is not inflationary, not recessionary and not a US domestic shock – the results are likely to be far more dangerous than that.”