THE CHIEF executive of Entain, the owner of Ladbrokes and Coral bookmakers, is to depart following the resolution of a long-running bribery scandal at its former Turkish business.

Boss Jette Nygaard-Andersen will exit after three years in the role, with nonexecutive director Stella David filling in as interim chief as the search begins for a replacement.

The gambling giant has been mired in controversy since HMRC opened an inquiry in 2019, into a failure to prevent bribery at its former Turkish subsidiary.

After a resolution last week, the London-listed firm paid £615m in recompense for its role as part of a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the Crown Prosecution Service including charitable donations and HMRC's legal costs.

The alleged failures involve Entain, which was named GVC Holdings at the time, failing to prevent bribery between July 2011 and December 2017. Any prosecution and conviction posed the possibility of the firm losing its licences.

Nygaard-Andersen said: "The past three years have been rewarding and challenging in equal measure. The resolution of the HMRC investigation into the legacy business, which was sold by a former management team in 2017, offers a clean inflection point for me and Entain." Barry Gibson, chairman of Entain, said: "She has offered exceptional leadership during a challenging period."

(c) 2023 City A.M., source Newspaper