As many as 1,300 Ladbrokes betting shops may have to be sold off if the monopolies regulators are to give the go-ahead for the possible £3.5bn merger of the company with Gala Coral’s betting business.
Talks are taking place between the two companies on the project, which would create the UK’s biggest bookmaker. At current sizes, it would have 4,000 shops out of the 8,700 existing in the UK market place. Many experts in the City feel that this will not be permitted under competition laws and some of the Ladbroke’s shops will have to be sold in order to reduce the size of the new company to around 30 per cent of the market.
Coral, which has 1,850 shops, has an online business, as does Ladbrokes, but their combined interests in that sector is much smaller. What is now being predicted is that the Coral betting shops in the UK and Italy, together with its online business, being moved under the Ladbroke banner. The Gala Coral bingo business of 132 clubs is outside of the deal being discussed and would be sold separately.
