Irish bookmaker BoyleSports says it is prepared to bid £100 million for a significant portion of Ladbrokes-Coral’s retail betting shop portfolio.
The announcement came in the wake of an order from the UK Competitions and Markets Authority to Ladbrokes-Coral to sell around 400 outlets to complete their proposed £2.3 billion merger.
BoyleSports, in the meantime, has signaled its desire to expand its presence in the British land-based betting and scoop up around 360 of the shops, more than doubling its current UK retail portfolio.
“The Gala Coral-Ladbrokes merger presented an opportunity for us which we definitely need to look at, so we’re driving that process,” a spokesperson for BoyleSports said.
But it’s expected the company will have competition. Manchester-based bookmaker Betfred is reported to have already submitted a multimillion-pound bid to Ladbrokes-Coral.
