The founder and Managing Director of Boyle Sports, the country’s second-largest bookmaking firm says the company will look at buying any bookmaking shops in the UK that come on the market arising from the planned merger of two of that country’s largest firms, Ladbrokes and Gala Coral.
John Boyle told Newstalk Breakfast Business this morning that his privately-owned firm was debt free and had the support of its banks for appropriate acquisitions.
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He said the company had the facility to fund up to £400m when it sought to acquire the UK Tote a number of years ago so that sort of financial fire power would not be an issue though he expected the cost of acquiring some or all of the UK shops that might become available would be a maximum of about £150m.
It’s reported that the UK Competition and Markets Authority could force the sale of up to 10 percent of the combined entity’s network of 4,000 betting shops across the UK.
Boyle Sports’ leading competitor here, Paddy Power, has already indicated it will also review the situation in the UK arising from the Ladbrokes/Gala Coral merger.
