PHD scoops £90m win as Entain switches betting brief

Entain, the company that owns and operates five UK betting and gaming brands – including Ladbrokes and Coral – has appointed a new media buying and planning agency to its estimated £90m account, following a seven-month competitive pitch process.

Omnicom Media owned PHD will take over from the7stars to handle the gambling giant’s five brands – Ladbrokes, Coral, FoxyBingo, Gala and Party Poker – and will begin work from January 1 2026.

The7stars first started working with Coral in 2011 and retained the business when Coral merged with Ladbrokes in 2017, and again when GVC Holdings acquired the merged business in 2018. GVC Holdings officially rebranded as Entain in 2020.

Entain chief marketing officer Charlotte Emery said: “We are looking forward to working with PHD who have demonstrated a great understanding of our business and the ambition for our portfolio of brands, which all have distinct customer segments and brand strategies.

“As we look to our future, I would also like to thank the significant contribution The7Stars have made to our business during the last decade. We wish them every success for the future.”

PHD UK chief executive Paul Knight added: “Entain has an ambitious house of brands. Our appointment is an incredible opportunity to leverage the power of our Intelligence. Connected. offer to deliver truly distinctive and effective work together.”

Earlier this year, Atomic London beat off VCCP Blue and St Luke’s to scoop the Ladbrokes advertising and marketing account (pictured); incumbent Neverland, which had held the brief since 2021, did not repatch.

The agency now works alongside Ladbrokes’ in-house shop, Entain Creative, which handles campaigns for both Ladbrokes and Coral.

Late last year, the Government was pressed to take “urgent action” to protect the public – especially children – from gambling harms, amid claims Britain has some of the most lenient advertising rules in Europe, despite a huge dossier of evidence on betting’s negative effects.

According to the analysis, commissioned by GambleAware and carried out by the University of Bristol and Ipsos, bans on gambling marketing across Europe are increasingly becoming the norm in response to public health concerns, especially around children; countries including Italy, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium have far tougher regimes.