Ladbroke Buys Rival Firm for $618.6 Million

Ladbroke Group said Thursday that it had bought bookmaking rival Coral from the Bass leisure company, in a $618.6-million deal, reducing Britain’s three major betting shop chains to just two.

The deal involves 891 betting shops in Britain and Ireland.

Ladbroke, which already owns 1,925 shops, also has conditionally agreed to sell for $67.5 million 128 outlets to Tote, which has a big racetrack presence but only 212 shops on Britain’s main streets.

Ladbroke said it had entered the agreement “to meet established U.K. criteria for the maintenance of effective competition in local markets” and had already made preliminary contact with Britain’s Office of Fair Trading.

The deal leaves the new company with nearly twice as many outlets as main rival William Hill, whose 1,530 shops were bought recently by Japanese bank Nomura Securities Co.

Ladbroke said that in the last three years more than 600 betting shops have closed in Britain.