A Drive to Get More Women and Millennials Gambling

(Bloomberg) -- Entain Plc wants to get more women gambling by pushing beyond traditional sports betting into more varied forms of entertainment, said its new Chief Executive Officer Jette Nygaard-Andersen.

New gaming technology won't just get people placing more bets -- it will draw more varied audiences with different play formats and games that interact with social media, Nygaard-Andersen said in an interview.

“Whenever we start talking about more free-to-play, casual, maybe shorter game-plays, there are more women there,” she said. “So where today you could say we are male-skewed in our product offering, particularly due to sports, you see bingo is an area where you have much more women.”

Nygaard-Andersen is one of eight female chief executives in Britain's FTSE 100 index. Her arrival means two of the biggest companies in U.K. gambling are run by women: The boss of closely-held rival Bet365, Denise Coates, is Britain's richest woman.

The Danish business executive joined Entain's board in 2019 and took the helm in January at a turbulent moment for the biggest U.K.- headquartered betting group.

Former boss Shay Segev surprised the industry by departing after just six months in the role, and days after Entain rebuffed a takeover offer from U.S. casino giant MGM Entertainment Inc. The U.S. company hoped to take control of its joint venture with Entain, BetMGM, to push faster into the U.S. market, where sports betting was legalized in 2018. It would have been yet another deal in a wave of transatlantic gambling tie-ups.

Nygaard-Andersen is also interested in getting millennials betting more on e-sports. Data showed almost two-thirds of e-sports fans are interested in betting, a higher proportion than traditional sports, she said.

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