(AsiaGameHub) – In May, the iGaming sector saw a raft of first-quarter earnings releases, a delay to a major potential takeover, confirmed discussions of a possible large-scale delisting, and a host of major investor shifts that shook up share prices for many of the industry’s biggest listed companies.
The month also brought a delay to the UK Gambling Commission’s plan to roll out financial risk assessments (FRAs). If the policy is ultimately approved, it could lead to further profit declines for London-listed firms Flutter Entertainment, evoke, Entain and Rank Group.
Meanwhile, prediction markets continued to gain both new supporters and new opponents across the globe. Spain launched disciplinary proceedings against Kalshi and Polymarket, before US President Donald Trump stated that it was critical for prediction markets to “thrive”. These platforms have more recently been named as a drag on revenue for publicly traded gambling companies.
The fallout from allegations of illegal activity involving Sportradar continued to unfold, and a Financial Times report found that short sellers earned at least £1.7bn in 2026 by betting against gambling PLC stocks.
But who were last month’s winners and losers, and what drove their share price movements?
Genius Sports on the road to recovery
It’s no exaggeration to say that Genius Sports’ performance on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was nothing short of disastrous in the first few months of 2026.
The firm’s $1.2bn (£900m) February acquisition of sports and entertainment digital media platform Legend fell completely flat with investors, pushing shares down so far that the company’s total market capitalization dropped below the value of the deal itself.
This share price drop led company leadership to defend the acquisition, noting that the lack of market confidence stemmed from a misunderstanding: investors incorrectly label Legend as just an affiliate business, while Genius argues it is far more than that.
The post-acquisition share price dip extended a worrying trend for the company in 2026. Genius shares traded at around $11 at the start of the year, but had plummeted below the $4 threshold by April.
However, the release of its Q1 2026 results and growing broader market confidence in the business pushed its share price up nearly 35% in May. Genius Sports stock now trades at $5.86 – still far off its all-time highs, but clearly on a path to recovery.
This uptick aligns with predictions from analysts, who remained confident in a turnaround even in April after reviewing the company’s financials.
A leadership shakeup at Flutter Entertainment
However, May was far from a positive month for Flutter Entertainment, one of the world’s largest publicly traded online gambling companies.
Its Q1 results did little to restore investor confidence, which has eroded significantly over the past 12 months. A 17% year-on-year rise in corporate revenue to $4.3bn was not enough to offset concerns over a leadership reshuffle and a 38% drop in net income to $209m.
May also saw leading Flutter investor Kenneth Dart increase his stake in the firm to 27%, but the company’s overall share price still fell 8.62% over the month to settle at $96.98.
While, just like Genius, analysts remain bullish on Flutter thanks to its strong underlying fundamentals, fears of further prediction market growth – even though Flutter already operates in the space via FanDuel Predicts – and growing tax headwinds have deterred investors.
Flutter’s Q1 results also confirmed that the company is reviewing its listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), meaning it could become the latest high-profile firm to delist from the exchange.
Top investor changes do little to lift Entain
Speaking of the LSE, Entain’s shares turned in a poor performance on the exchange throughout May.
A 6% monthly drop pushed the company’s share price down to 533.8p, following a series of shifts to its investor base and board-level changes.
While the impact of higher remote gaming duty and calls for a full ban on unlicensed gambling operators advertising in English sports remained top talking points for Entain in May, the firm also saw the closure of one of its largest shareholders, Eminence Capital.
This led to Eminence’s Ricky Sandler stepping down from his role as Non-Executive Director – he was later replaced by Sheila Bangalore – and 6.5% of Entain’s stock returned to the open market.
JPMorgan Chase quickly bought up this available stake, increasing its total holdings in Entain to 7%, but the US financial giant has been selling down the position ever since completing the purchase.
The planned closure of Ladbrokes stores in Ireland is another factor discouraging investors, who are still waiting to see the full impact of the aforementioned tax increase reflected in the firm’s H1 2026 results.
Deal or no deal for major UK gambling PLC?
Even though evoke’s share price rose from 36.9p to 39.7p in May, it is clear that investor confidence in the firm is not at an all-time high.
The owner of William Hill has a pending takeover offer from Bally’s Intralot valued at 50p per share, or £225m total.
However, as noted, the company’s shares remain well below that 50p offer price, and evoke extended the deadline for the deal in mid-May, pushing it from 18 May to 8 June.
Both companies hold well over £1bn in combined debt, which has raised questions about how the merged entity would pay down this liability.
All eyes will be on the deal next week, when investors may finally get clear answers about what will happen…
Other notable share movers in May
DraftKings – $24.49 (+6.48%)
MGM Resorts International – $43.67 (+13.43%)
Kambi Group – 175.2 SEK (+14.96%)
Evolution AB – 696.4 SEK (+9.02%)
Super Group – $12.45 (-3.41%)
Sportradar Group – $13.21 (-0.38%)
Rank Group – 98p (+2.08%)
Playtech – 356p (-2.84%)
Gentoo Media – 5.6 SEK (-13.98%)
FDJ United – €22.75 (-1.52%)
Banijay Group – €8.78 (+3.29%)
Bally’s Corporation – $14.18 (+7.1%)
Bally’s Intralot – €1.15 (+5.41%)
Aristocrat Leisure – AU $50.10 (+4.92%)
This article is provided by a third-party. AsiaGameHub (https://asiagamehub.com/) makes no warranties regarding its content.
AsiaGameHub delivers targeted distribution for iGaming, Casino, and eSports, connecting 3,000+ premium Asian media outlets and 80,000+ specialized influencers across ASEAN.