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What is Rio Stars?
The company reported approximately £3.6 billion of net debt at the end of June, with reported leverage of 3.1x underlying EBITDA. Online underlying EBITDA fell 5% in the first half despite 7% growth in online net gaming revenue. The tax impact has been substantial.
The UK government increased Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) from 21% to 40% from 1 April. Then from April 2027, a new 25% General Betting Duty rate for remote betting will apply, although remote bets on UK horse racing are excluded from the new rate.
Entain said the higher RGD had a £56 million negative impact on first-half EBITDA. In Britain, operators are dealing with government policy and higher taxes. In America, the main threat is competition. The problems are different, but they hit the same group of stocks.
How to play Rio Stars
Burnham dealt another slight blow to the retail sector recently, by insisting he would scrap “aim to permit” for betting shops as well as insisting that AGCs will now need planning permission to function.
Done questioned how much more of a tax burden wealthy business owners in the UK should bear, noting: “They keep saying those with the broadest shoulders should be paying more tax. Well, how broad do my shoulders have to be? We paid £400 million in taxes as a family last year.”
He expressed a personal reluctance to emigrate outside of the UK, but acknowledged that his children might seek more favourable tax regimes abroad.
About Rio Stars
The companies delivered a presentation that detailed their plans to create a “global gaming champion”.
Lottomatica generated revenue of €2.26 billion in its FY2025, while Cirsa’s FY2025 group revenue reached €2.34 billion.
The combined company would overtake the likes of Bally’s Intralot, Entain and Allwyn to become the second-largest listed global operator, behind only Flutter Entertainment in terms of combined adjusted EBITDA.
