About this app
About Belote
Online casino is ultimately in the business of entertainment – and keeping players entertained means continuing to give them something that feels new. With consumers facing an abundance of competing ways to spend their time, repetition risks making it harder for any entertainment product to hold their attention.
While thousands of new casino games reach the market every year – with research suggesting the number of releases is growing by around 10% each quarter – volume does not necessarily equate to variety. Developing something genuinely different means taking a risk, while the industry’s familiar practice of reskinning existing games, or adapting mechanics and concepts that have already proved successful, offers a much safer commercial proposition.
For James Curwen, chief executive at Yggdrasil, the tension between the industry’s need for fresh content and the commercial realities of producing it goes to the heart of the challenge.
About Belote
Although it will remain on the FTSE 250, Entain’s relegation will see it removed from the FTSE 100 on 21 September.
This followed a period of restrategising for the operator, after rebranding from GVC Holdings and committing to having 100% of its revenues come from regulated markets.
But its share price has taken a tumble over the last year, dropping up to 37% since September 2025. Its market cap currently sits at £3.39 billion.
What is Belote?
The ruling is the latest twist in a dispute dating to 2012 that has involved allegations of government interference, a failed settlement, and three international arbitration awards.
Baldwin and fellow casino entrepreneur Shawn Scott arrived in Laos in 2007 with ambitious plans to build a casino business aimed partly at customers crossing the country’s borders.
The pair established Sanum Investments and partnered with Laotian conglomerate ST Group. Baldwin later testified that the investors initially committed around $7.5 million to the venture, which envisaged two casino resorts and several slot clubs.
