Following 18 months of negotiations, the merger of Ladbrokes and Coral has finally been completed, with the new enterprise officially adopting the corporate name of Ladbrokes Coral Plc. Issuing a short statement, Ladbrokes governance confirmed its official merger completion this morning: “Ladbrokes plc announces it has today changed its name to Ladbrokes Coral Group plc. The merger is expected …
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Cash strapped Deutsche Bank eyes $440 million sale of Red Rock Resorts
The Financial Times has reported that embattled European bank Deutsche Bank is preparing to cash-in on its 17% stake in Nevada casino operator Red Rock Resorts (formerly known as Station Casinos). Deutsche governance are reported to be seeking a $440 million sale price for its stake in Red Rock a company it invested in 2011 as the operator looked to …
Read More »SIS welcomes theft conviction from FACT investigation
A Norfolk man trading as ‘Billie the Bookmaker’ has been sentenced to 12 months for selling devices which provide illegal access to SIS sports channels. Although his income from the illegal activity was said to be £20,000, the value of the lost subscriptions to SIS was valued at least £2 million. William Marston was given a custodial sentence at Norwich …
Read More »Competition concerns see UK CMA call for ‘Phase 2’ investigation of Novomatic Talarius buyout
The £116 million acquisition of Talarius arcades by Novomatic Group (Novomatic) faces an ‘in-depth investigation over competition concerns’ by the UK Competition & Markets Authority (CMA). Publishing an industry update, CMA officials detailed that following Novomatic’s acquisition of Talarius, the company would operate 264 UK adult gaming centres, which may harm sector competition conditions. Stating its concerns, the authority detailed …
Read More »Hydra gains extension on Inspired Gaming acquisition approach
New York private equity firm, Hydra Industries (Hydra) has confirmed that it has been granted an ‘extension of the date’ by which it must complete its proposed £200 million acquisition of industry virtual games supplier Inspired Gaming Group (Inspired). The private equity firm has been granted until the 29 December to formally process its acquisition offer. Updating deal stakeholders, Hydra Chairman …
Read More »La La Land leads early Oscars 2017 market
Damien Chazelle’s romantic musical comedy-drama ‘La La Land’ has been priced as the early market favourite (10/11) to win ‘Best Picture’ at the 89th Academy Awards (date – 26 February 2017). November sees movie studios begin to release their ‘Oscars contender’ catalogs. With La La Land securing top honours at the Toronto Film Festival, bookmakers believe that Chazelle’s imaginative comedy-drama …
Read More »R. Franco launches industry start-up accelerator program ‘Wanajump’
Spanish gambling operator Grupo R. Franco (R. Franco) has announced the launch of its industry start-up accelerator program ‘Wanajump.’ The operator will run two incubator categories under the Wanajump program; ‘Incube’ and ‘Accelerate.’ Launching the initiative, R. Franco governance revealed that the company plans to support up to 30 start-ups per year. Its ‘Incube’ program will focus on initial stage …
Read More »Sky World Racing launches new ‘content hub’ website
Tabcorp horse racing media rights subsidiary Sky World Racing (Louisville – Kentucky) has announced the launch of its new website – skyworldracing.com. The new website will act as a racing content hub seeking to become the leading news source year-round racing from the Australian, New Zealand and South African markets. Sky World governance detailed that a new website was needed …
Read More »ESSA – Tennis continues to dominate suspicious betting alerts
European sports integrity unit ESSA has reported that tennis accounted for 84% of all cases of suspicious betting reported to regulatory authorities. Tennis alerts have now dominated ESSA’s integrity statistics for seven consecutive quarters since ESSA introduced its quarterly reporting practice at the start of 2015. The third quarter of 2016 saw 37 cases of suspicious betting activity identified by …
Read More »‘Mr Tough Guy’ – Paddy Power offers $10 million for Trump Vs Biden fight
Irish bookmaker Paddy Power wants Republican nominee Donald Trump and current US Vice President Joe Biden to sort their political and personal differences the ‘good old fashioned way’. The bookmaker has pledged to donate US $10 million to charities of Trump and Biden’s choice if they square up in a boxing match. Paddy Power’s charity offer follows this week’s tough …
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