Ladbrokes Coral – The New Leader of UK Gambling
Posted by Harry Kane on Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Mergers and acquisitions are always a hot topic in the casino world. But while some operators’ names get often coupled with others in talks about potential joint ventures, others just go ahead and do it. An example of the former is William Hill, who has managed to hit the headlines two times in the last couple of months. First, the operator was approached by 888 and Rank, as we let you know back in August. Then, just last month, Amaya had a similar proposal. Yet, both those mergers went down a dead-end street.
A good example of the latter is Ladbrokes. The operator first expressed an interest in a potential merger with the Gala Coral Group in July 2015 and went on through all the procedures to make it a reality.
Founded in 1886, Ladbrokes is one of the first bookmakers in the UK. It is one of the Big Three in UK gambling. The Gala Coral Group, on the other hand, is the result of an earlier merger between Gala Bingo and Casino and Coral Group. The Gala Coral Group merger of 2006 made the company one of the Big Three operators.
That’s why the Ladbrokes Coral merger is so important, both for the two companies and the industry – it is a coming together of the second and the third of the top 3 operators, which will, undoubtedly, lead to their taking over the current number one William Hill.
Ladbrokes and Gala Coral Group had to overcome a major hurdle earlier this year, when CMA ordered them to dispose of between 350 and 400 betting shops. The Competition and Markets Authority came up with this solution because they were worried that the concentration of outlets by the same operator would be too great otherwise. As a result, the two operators agreed to sell a total of 359 high street betting shops to Betfred and Stan James for £55.5 million. The soon-to-be the largest operator in the UK was then left with 3,500 betting outlets. But even so, they still have more than rival William Hill.
After taking their time to investigate the possible effects such a merger would have on the UK gambling market, the CMA gave the deal the green light on October 27. Having fulfilled all the requirements and, consequently, received the final clearance, the two companies went on preparing the documents of the new betting giant. On October 31, Ladbrokes announced they have changed their name to Ladbrokes Coral Group plc. On November 1, after fifteen months of preparations, the merger was completed.
The new operator Ladbrokes Coral is expected to have a 45% share in the UK market if we count the number of properties managed and a 47% share if we take revenue into account. The two already influential betting companies will now have a major say in the future of British gambling.