Betting giant Entain stakes out its metaverse bid with a plan to build immersive sports and gaming

• Entain, which owns Ladbrokes and bwin, said Monday it plans to create products for the metaverse.
• The betting giant said it wants to pioneer immersive experiences with VR and AR for sports and gaming.

Sports betting and gaming giant Entain wants to become a metaverse pioneer, and it is investing $133 million in a center to build immersive experiences for customers.

Entain, which owns the Ladbrokes and bwin betting businesses, said Monday it will set up a "global innovation hub" called Ennovate to develop the sports and entertainment products.

The UK-listed company will use the investment to back start-ups and develop applications for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), virtual reality, and augmented reality.

"We want to lead the way with new, exciting products and experiences for customers and use our cutting-edge technology to pioneer innovations in sport, gaming and interactive entertainment for the metaverse," its CEO Jette Nygaard-Andersen said in a statement.

Interest in the metaverse has skyrocketed since Facebook in October pivoted to focus on the sector and changed its corporate name to Meta. Wall Street is enthusiastic too, with both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley predicting the metaverse could offer a $8-trillion investment opportunity.

Gaming is one of the biggest use-cases in the metaverse, which is made up of virtual worlds where players can build, own, and make money from their gaming experiences.

VR and AR technology — headsets, in particular — give people a way to become immersed in the virtual worlds and explore them using avatars.

Shares in Entain, formerly known as GVC Holdings, rose 0.86% Monday on the London Stock Exchange.

The development and user testing of Entain's metaverse projects will take place at Ennovate's lab in London, expected to open in spring this year. Partners Verizon, BT, and Theta Labs will collaborate on the work.

A recent study carried out for Entain found a clear link between gaming and betting, and that there is growing interest in esports among adults worldwide.

"We're developing new interactive entertainment experiences, with more gaming and social features, because it's increasingly clear this is what people want," Dom Grounsell, deputy director of digital at Entain, said in a statement.