Ladbrokes, the leading British bookmaker and online gaming operator, recently announced that it was merging with its onetime rival Gala Coral. This merger would make the new group the largest bookmaker in the United Kingdom surpassing Ladbrokes’ main competition William Hill. However since the combined number of betting shops owned by both Ladbrokes and Gala Coral could possibly pose a problem for the British gaming authorities the newly merged group could be forced to close as many as up to 15 per cent of their high street betting shops. This and other considerations surrounding the merger could be behind the recent claim by the international investment bank Jeffries that Gala Coral may not be “a perfect fit” for Ladbrokes’ future development.
“Suggestion” from investment bank affects shares
Ladbrokes shares dropped in price recently and this could have been as a result of financial analysts concerns about the questions being posed by the merger of Ladbrokes and Coral. As a result of the drop in the share price Ladbrokes’ Chief Financial Officer is believed to have put his part of the company up for sale. Ian Bull is the owner of 121 675 shares in Ladbrokes and he is selling them all. The selling price is €1.50 per share. The new group to be known as Ladbrokes Coral would be worth about 3.4 billion euros and would become the largest bookmaker and online gambling operator in the United Kingdom. The merger is not yet finalised but the question over the closing of up to 600 betting shops and the lack of confidence among financial experts about Coral’s ability to develop Ladbrokes’ sports betting business could initially cause problems for the new Ladbrokes Coral group.
Ladbrokes Casino and Live Casino
Ladbrokes Casino has been online for the past 15 years. Ladbrokes Casino holds a gaming licence from Gibraltar and offers its players a wide range of hundreds of games. The casino which has been developed by Microgaming is available in both downloadable and flash versions. Ladbrokes also has a Live Casino which has been developed by Playtech. Casino games with live dealers are streamed from Playtech’s casino studio in Riga. Players in Ladbrokes Live Casino can join roulette, baccarat, blackjack and Texas Hold’em tables hosted by live dealers.
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