It’s the third week of March, a perfect time to place a couple of bets. Cheltenham? Yeah Spy’s managed to lose a few bob there.
But the more serious punters have their eye on the market for the next boss of Ladbrokes owner Entain. Bookie Star Sports put up odds on the next chief of the FTSE 100 betting firm when Jette Nygaard-Anderson quit, and with Entain last week hailing “progress” in its CEO hunt, it’s time to look at the runners and riders.
Former Sky Bet CEO Richard Flint is the favourite at 3/1, while the market doesn’t seem to think interim boss Stella David has impressed in her time in charge: she opened at sevens, but has drifted as far as 12/1. Among the longshots, Andrew Rhodes, the gambling watchdog chief who warned he could revoke Entain’s licence as he handed the firm a £17 million penalty in 2022, isn’t much value even as a 33/1 flyer.
How much should City folk read into all this? Well in 2021, when Star offered the same market, Nygaard-Andersen wasn’t listed at all until reports emerged naming her as the front-runner.
But given her exit last year amid shareholder pressure, maybe it’s worth sticking an oddsmaker on the search committee.
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