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The merger of Ladbrokes Plc and Gala Coral is almost good to go after the bookmakers revealed that 359 betting shops of its combined retail portfolio will be sold to Betfred (322 shops) and Stan James (37 ). The sale of the betting shops is conditional upon the approval of the UK Competition and Markets Authority (UK CMA) and will be …

Issuing an ‘Interim Management Statement’, FTSE-listed UK gambling operator Rank Group Plc (Rank) has reported that it expects to post ‘flat revenues’ revenues for its trading update for the 15-week period to 9 October. Ahead of its Annual General Meeting, Rank the operator of Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca Bingo halls reiterates its full-year target expectations. Publishing a brief trading update, …

Football, football, football. That is what appears to continue to be the marketing strategy of many bookmakers, potentially even more so in 2016. One EPL record was broken this season with 50% of clubs having their official shirt sponsor as a betting operator.  There is an argument to be had that this makes sense of course; more and more people …

London hedge fund Parvus Asset Management (Parvus) has publicly stated that it will not back the merger of William Hill and Amaya Inc, declaring that it sees ‘little strategic logic’ in the £5 billion ‘all-stock merger of equals’. Led by Danish financier Mads Eg Gensmann, Parvus is reported to be William Hill Plc’s largest investor owning approximately 14.3% of company shares. …

With its ‘2016 US Presidential Election’ market hitting £63 million in wagers Betfair has announced that Hillary Clinton has hit her lowest trading price of 1.18, giving the Democrat candidate an 85% chance of becoming the first US female president.   With just 24 days till the US hits its polls, Betfair revealed that Donald Trump currently trades at 7.0 giving …

eSports industry news source eSportsbettingreport.com has informed that Ladbrokes has ‘quietly dropped its eSports betting markets’. The news source points to a customer query with Ladbrokes support asking the bookmaker why no eSports markets were visible on its sports betting product. The bookmaker replied to the query stating that its eSports markets had been ‘taken away currently’, further noting that …

The government of New South Wales (NSW) has reversed its decision to ban greyhound racing, stating that the sport had ‘one last chance’ to prove itself against animal cruelty. The Australian greyhound racing industry has come under fire following a string of investigations which found overwhelming evidence of animal cruelty including mass killings and the use of live baits in …

SBC is inviting the ‘hard hitters’ in the sports betting industry to put themselves forward for one of 15 awards created to recognise excellence in 2016. If you feel your company deserves special recognition this year, make sure you get your nomination in before October 25. The SBC Awards 2016, which will be held on December 7 at Under the Bridge …

The Guardian newspaper reports that senior figures in UK racing are concerned regarding the potential UK government blanket ban on sports betting advertising pre the UK 9pm watershed. Racing industry stakeholders are said to be particularly anxious with regards to its new £30 million four-year racing broadcast partnership with ITV which begins in January 2017. The success of ITV as …

Facing competition from Racing Victoria and Seven West Media joint-venture Racing.com, Australian gambling operator Tabcorp has been forced to significantly up its bid in order to maintain its racing broadcast rights in Australia and New Zealand. The Australian Financial Review (AFR) has reported that Tabcorp governance are prepared to pay AUD $26 million (£16 million) to secure racing content rights …