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Multiple high profile football events helps Q2

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First-half net gaming rev up 6%

(Adds shares, CFO comment paragraph 6)

By Chandini Monnappa and Shanima A

Aug 8 (Reuters) - Entain ( GMVHF ) raised a key annual

revenue forecast on Thursday, encouraged by punters cashing in

on high-profile football events in Europe in the second quarter,

which boost shares in the British gambling group by more than

11%.

The owner of Ladbrokes, Coral and Partypoker said it now

expected a low single-digit positive growth in online net gaming

revenue (NGR), up from a previous forecast of low single-digit

negative growth for the full year, boosted by bets on the Euro

2024 Cup, European Champions League and the upcoming English

Premier League.

Core profit is likely to be about 1,040 million pounds-1,090

million pounds ($1.32-$1.38 billion), it added.

Shares of the company rose as much as 11.1% to 581.4 pence

in the morning trade.

Entain ( GMVHF ) enjoyed a boom during the pandemic, as punters

working from home with more time on their hands placed bets.

However, increased competition and regulatory changes in key

markets have posed a challenge to the firm, which last month

named Gavin Isaacs as its new CEO after the abrupt departure of

Jette Nygaard-Andersen.

Entain ( GMVHF ) has been focusing on the booming U.S. market, where

its joint venture with MGM resorts, BetMGM, faces formidable

competition from rivals Flutter-owned FanDuel and

Boston-based DraftKings.

"The U.S market is fast growing, we've addressed some

product gaps and with the NFL season kicking off soon, we expect

to see stronger performance from the region," CFO Rob Wood said.

Entain's ( GMVHF ) upbeat tone contrasts with BetMGM, which last

month warned that its losses for the year would be bigger than

previously expected.

Entain ( GMVHF ) said the group's total net gaming revenue was up 6%

at 2.56 billion pounds in the six months ended June 30.

($1 = 0.7872 pounds)