By Guy Taylor
The chief executive of Entain, the owner of Ladbrokes and Coral bookmakers, is to depart following the resolution of a long-running bribery scandal at its former Turkish business.
Boss Jette Nygaard-Andersen will exit after nearly three years in the role, with non-executive director Stella David filling is as interim chief while the search begins for a replacement.
The gambling giant has been mired in controversy since HMRC opened an inquiry in 2019, into a failure to prevent bribery at its former Turkish subsidiary.
Following a resolution last week, the London-listed firm has agreed to pay £615m in recompense for its role as part of a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the Crown Prosecution Service, including charitable donations and HMRC’s legal costs.
The alleged failures involve Entain, which was named GVC Holdings at the time, failing to prevent bribery between July 2011 and December 2017. Any prosecution and conviction posed the possibility of the firm losing its licenses worldwide.
Nygaard-Andersen said: “The past three years have been rewarding and challenging in equal measure. The resolution of the HMRC investigation into the legacy business, which was sold by a former management team in 2017, offers a clean inflection point for me and for Entain.”
“The group is now safe, stable and sustainable and I believe that this is the right time to move on to other business and career opportunities.”
Barry Gibson, Chairman of Entain, said: “Jette’s decision to leave comes after the resolution of HMRC’s investigation into the Company’s legacy Turkish-facing business. She has offered exceptional leadership during what has been a hugely challenging period.”
He added: “It is no exaggeration to say that the HMRC investigation posed a number of threats to our Group. As the court last week recognised in approving a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), had the matter not been resolved by way of a DPA, the consequences to the company and all of its stakeholders could have been disproportionate.”
Company shares have struggled throughout 2023. A September admission that online gaming revenues were set to fall this year sent its stock plumetting more than 11 per cent and shares have fallen around 40 per cent since August.
Rival Paddy-Power owner Flutter Entertainment’s shares are up by more than a third in the year to date and there had been growing internal discontent among executives, advisers and investors at Nygaard-Andersen’s leadership, according to a Financial Times investigation.
