Britains largest and biggest bookmaker, Ladbrokes, is returning to the casino industry after staying out for more than five years when it opens its new Ladbrokes Casino and Sports Bar at the
London Paddington Hilton Hotel tomorrow.
Ladbrokes, which had recently sold it holdings of the Hilton International hotels for some 3.3 billion pounds, is opening up a new venture for a 5 million pound casino that has some making speculations about the Ladbrokes and its activity in seeking new acquisitions in both the casino and betting sectors.
Sources close to the group say that they have also been monitoring a proposed merger between London Clubs International and the Stanley Leisure, but also possibly with the aim to make a bid for the London Clubs International. Some think that Ladbrokes, after selling its casino to the Gala Group in 20012, is waiting until the merger before trying to launch another bid for the enlarged company.
Ladbrokes it appears is pushing for a large scale operation in which they will be the name that everyone thinks of when it comes to large casinos and sports betting. With all these talks of mergers, it does appear that Ladbrokes will be making a push to buy one company and then another and then another, hoping maybe for a pseudo monopoly in the field.
