Possible ladbrokes takeover of Sportingbet

This month’s most significant casino news once again concerns a possible takeover within the gambling industry. It would appear that Sportingbet are in talks with GVC Holdings, the AIM listed online gaming group, with a view to offloading their Turkish language online gambling business, said to be worth between £70 million and £100 million. Talks are at an early stage and because of the reported valuation would effectively represent a reverse takeover for GVC. More significantly for Irish and UK online casino gamblers, such a deal would finally clear the way for a takeover of Sportingbet by Ladbrokes in a deal first brokered in June, and which could be worth as much as £600 million. Ladbrokes have always made it clear that any takeover of Sportingbet would be conditional on the Turkish business being sold, primarily because it is unlicensed and unlicensed gambling websites are illegal in Turkey, but online casino industry analysts now believe that the path may soon be clear for the Ladbrokes deal to go ahead. Regular followers of online casino news will note that such a takeover would be the second significant merger in the online casino industry this year, following the merger of Bwin and Party Gaming earlier in the year which created the largest online casino operator in the sector. Shares in Sportingbet immediately jumped by 7% on the news, and it was anticipated that Ladbrokes would offer over 70p per share representing a further premium for existing shareholders. The latest turmoil in the international stock markets has obviously altered the figures, but online casino analysts still appear to believe that a deal will be done.