Entain PLC (LSE:ENT) is making a whopping £585 million provision as it closes in on an agreement with HMRC following a probe into potential bribery offences at the group’s former Turkish subsidiary.
The betting firm said the sum would be paid over a four-year period.
“We are pleased to be making good progress towards drawing a line under this historical issue, which relates to a business that was sold by a former management team of the group nearly six years ago,” chairman Barry Gibson said in a statement.
In June, investment bank Citi estimated a fine could be between £200-£300 million.
The news came as the owner of Coral and Ladbrokes reported a 13% increase in revenue to £2.38 billion in the six-month period ended 30 June 2023 from £2.09 billion the year earlier, including a record number of online customers.
Total net gaming revenue (NGR) rose 19%, with online NGR up 15%, while the retail arm performed ahead of expectations, with NGR up 12%.
Bet MGM performed strongly with NGR up 55% to $944 million.
Entain said the 50/50 joint venture with MGM was on track to deliver the upper end of 2023 NGR guidance of $1.8-$2.0 billion and be EBITDA positive in the second half of the financial year.
Underlying pre-tax profit jumped 89% to £287.6 million from £152.4 million but on a statutory basis the firm swung to a pre-tax loss of £502.5 million from a profit of £28.1 million.
The dividend was lifted 5% to 8.9p.