GVC and Ladbrokes’ agreement is near

GVC Holdings and Ladbrokes would sign the agreement to merge this month.

UK.- The highly expected merger between the international sports betting operators GVC Holdings and Ladbrokes Coral could be finally set this month, according to the latest announcements in the United Kingdom’s press. The agreement would be closed during the next week under a multibillion contract.

Ladbrokes Coral has reportedly rejected GVC’s £3.6 billion takeover bid, which supposed an inventive of 50p per share. The Financial Times revealed that Ladbrokes Coral governance would not present the offer to the investors as they disagreed with the company’s value. However, the companies kept negotiating the merger.

The two sources said that the uncertainty around UK’s government review of the gambling sector that is supposed to be released this Autumn played an important role to dismiss the offer. The authorities have targeted fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) and gaming advertising. The latest probe has jeopardised millionaire revenues as well as tens of thousands of employees. The national idea is to limit gaming publicity and to reduce FOBTs maximum stakes from £100 to just £2 as the Gambling Commission published evidence that they could be harmful for players.

Even though the numbers are estimative since the company didn’t exist until a few months ago, online operations totaled £666.2 million. Ladbrokes Coral currently has 12 percent of the UK online market. Moreover, online sports betting revenue grew 51 percent to £310 million, and online gaming also increased to £356 million.