Playtech now expects full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA of more than €300m, ahead of market forecasts, after trading in the four months to 31 October was boosted by what it called continued strong performance in the Americas.

The supplier said in a trading update to the London Stock Exchange on 10 November that results for the period from 1 July to 31 October were ahead of expectations. Its new guidance compares with analyst consensus of €279m, the mean of seven estimates ranging from €271m to €285m, and with the “at least €270m” Playtech had guided to over the summer.

The company also warned that next year will carry heavier headwinds from Brazil, UK taxation and growing competition in its most profitable US product. Consensus for 2027 adjusted EBITDA stood at €266m before the update, according to the footnotes to Playtech’s announcement.

Hard Rock partnership drives the upgrade

Playtech said it had “benefitted materially” from being first to market with Hard Rock Digital in the first half with its product built on past motor racing (PMR) results, and that PMR revenues had remained strong in the second half.

That edge is set to narrow. Other third-party PMR suppliers are now being introduced, and Playtech said it expects them to have a “more material impact” on its wallet share into 2027.

Mexico and Colombia also benefited from tailwinds following the men’s FIFA World Cup, the company said.

“We have continued to deliver an excellent performance in 2026 to date, reflecting sustained momentum in regulated markets, notably the Americas,” said Mor Weizer, Playtech’s chief executive. He added that the group was working towards the top end of its medium-term targets.

Brazil and UK tax weigh on 2027

Playtech said it expects to absorb the three-month impact of “recent political and regulatory developments” in Brazil within its 2026 numbers, but warned of a “more significant impact” in 2027 if the existing market shutdown is not lifted. Brazilian operators were forced offline in October and their licences expired as Lula won re-election, leaving the federal market closed pending political and court decisions.

Brazil has already hit others in the sector. Flutter cut its 2026 guidance earlier this month after exiting the market.

In the UK, Playtech continues to absorb the increase in Remote Gaming Duty that took effect in April 2026. The full-year effect will land in 2027, alongside higher gambling taxes in other European markets.

The update did not include revenue figures or a segment breakdown, and Playtech gave no numerical guidance for 2027. Trade press coverage, including SBC News and CasinoBeats, framed the announcement as a stronger 2026 bought partly at the expense of a tougher 2027.

What comes next

The upgrade caps a strong year for the supplier, which reported first-half revenue up 10% to €425.1m in September, with US and Canadian B2B revenue more than doubling on the back of the Hard Rock relationship. The question for investors now is how much of that US growth survives as Hard Rock Digital opens its PMR offering to competing suppliers, and how long Brazil stays shut.

Playtech’s full statement is published on its investor relations site.

Patricia Bullrich, who leads President Javier Milei’s La Libertad Avanza bloc in the Argentine Senate, has said the chamber will take up a bill to curb online gambling advertising and protect minors “in the coming weeks”, reviving legislation that has sat untouched since the lower house passed it two years ago.

“Child gambling addiction is not a game,” Bullrich wrote on her X account on 6 November. “We are going to deal with this law in the Senate in the coming weeks. Limits have to be set.”

The announcement is notable because her own party was the only bloc to vote against the bill when the Chamber of Deputies approved it on 27 November 2024 by 139 votes to 36, with 59 abstentions, according to Argentine congressional reporting.

What the bill would do

The legislation is a gambling addiction prevention and advertising measure rather than a national licensing framework. Online gambling in Argentina remains licensed province by province, with Buenos Aires Province and the City of Buenos Aires running separate regulated markets.

As passed by the Deputies, the bill would bar under-18s from betting platforms and require biometric identity and age verification against Renaper, the national population registry, including for digital wallets used to fund accounts. It would ban online gambling advertising across traditional media and social networks, including influencer promotions and welcome bonuses, limiting advertising to physical venues such as casinos, bingo halls, racetracks and lottery agencies.

Betting companies would also be barred from sponsoring teams, athletes, stadiums and sporting events, a significant change for Argentine football, where gambling brands have become prominent shirt and league sponsors. The text creates a national self-exclusion register and requires operators to offer session limits and self-assessment tools, while running unauthorised betting would carry prison terms of three to eight years, with tougher penalties where minors are involved.

Pressure from the Church

Bullrich’s statement followed a campaign by the Catholic Church, whose social ministry commission launched a public petition urging the Senate to act ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Argentina. Infobae reported on 8 November that officials in the Casa Rosada were irritated that Bullrich made the announcement without first clearing it with the government’s political team.

The government sent its own rival bill to Congress in May 2026, and neither text has yet been debated in the Senate. The Deputies’ bill has been assigned to three committees, Health, General Legislation, and Justice and Criminal Affairs, all chaired by La Libertad Avanza senators. No committee session has been scheduled, according to Parlamentario.com.

Running out of time

The calendar is tight. Congress’s ordinary session ends on 30 November, and parliamentary activity this week is minimal because of holidays linked to the papal visit. After that date, the bill could only be considered if the president includes it on the agenda for extraordinary sessions.

There is also disagreement over when the lower house’s approval lapses. Parlamentario.com and other local outlets put the deadline at 28 February 2027, while the bill’s sponsor in the Deputies, Mónica Frade, has warned it is at risk of losing parliamentary status at the end of this month.

For operators licensed in Argentina’s provincial markets, the advertising and sponsorship provisions are the most consequential element. The trade press, including Focus Gaming News and Yogonet, reported Bullrich’s comments as a sign the bill may finally move, but whether the Senate debates the Deputies’ text, the government’s version or a merged compromise is likely to decide how far those restrictions go.

PENN Entertainment returned to profit in the third quarter of 2026, reporting net income of $33.0m against a loss of $864.6m a year earlier, as record third-quarter retail revenue combined with a sharply narrower loss in its online division.

The Pennsylvania-based operator posted total revenue of $1.84bn for the three months to 30 September, up from $1.72bn in the prior-year period, according to its earnings release filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 5 November. Diluted earnings per share came in at $0.24, compared with a loss of $6.03 a year ago.

The comparison flatters the swing. PENN’s third quarter of 2025 carried a goodwill impairment of roughly $825m in its Interactive segment, booked as the company unwound its sportsbook partnership with ESPN. Stripping that out, the underlying improvement is still marked: consolidated adjusted EBITDA rose to $284.0m from $194.9m.

Retail carries the quarter

The bricks-and-mortar estate remains the engine. Retail revenue reached about $1.49bn, which PENN described as a record for a third quarter, while segment adjusted EBITDAR came to $501.8m at a margin of 33.7%. The company said that was the third consecutive quarter of year-on-year margin improvement across its regional casino portfolio.

Chief executive Jay Snowden said the healthy trends in both the retail and online businesses had continued through October.

“These encouraging trends reinforce our strategic focus on U.S. iCasino and Canada as key drivers of profitable growth,” Snowden said in the release.

Interactive loss narrows

The Interactive segment, which now operates under the theScore Bet brand in both the US and Canada following the end of the ESPN Bet arrangement, reported revenue of $348.4m, up from $297.7m. That figure includes a tax gross-up of $191.4m, against $139.5m a year earlier, so the underlying net gaming revenue growth is more modest than the headline suggests.

More important for investors is the bottom line. The segment’s adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed to $18.3m from $76.6m in the third quarter of 2025. PENN pointed to early performance from its online casino and sports betting operations in Alberta, the Canadian province that opened a regulated market this year, alongside Ontario, where theScore has long been one of the leading brands. Its Ontario business drew a maximum C$200,000 penalty from the provincial regulator in October over cash-out promotions, as previously reported.

Snowden said PENN remains confident of reaching its full-year Interactive adjusted EBITDA target, though the release did not restate a figure. The company did not publish updated numerical guidance in the release itself.

Balance sheet

PENN ended the quarter with total liquidity of $2.0bn, including cash and equivalents of $1.04bn. Traditional net debt stood at $1.76bn, giving net leverage of 2.3 times, down from 4.5 times at the end of 2025. Lease-adjusted net leverage, which captures the company’s substantial rent obligations to its real estate landlords, was 5.6 times.

The operator is midway through a $750m share repurchase programme covering 2026 to 2028, according to its earlier quarterly filings. The third-quarter release did not disclose the amount bought back during the period.

What it means

The quarter marks a clear shift in tone for a company that spent much of 2024 and 2025 under pressure over the cost of its online ambitions. With the ESPN chapter closed, PENN has narrowed its digital focus to US online casino and Canada, where margins are stronger than in highly promotional US sports betting markets.

The results land in a quarter in which US online casino growth has slowed and several sportsbook rivals have cut guidance as they spend on prediction markets. The trade press, including CDC Gaming Reports, framed PENN’s quarter as a comeback. Whether the Interactive segment can move into sustained profitability, rather than simply losing less, is the question investors will press at the fourth-quarter update.