Gala Group
Encyclopedia
Gala Coral Group Ltd is a British
betting shop, bingo and casino
operator owned by private equity
houses Candover Investments
, Cinven
and Permira
. In October 2005 it merged with Coral Eurobet for £2.18 billion. The acquisition made it the UK's third largest bookmaker and largest bingo
operator. It also owns over 30 casinos. Coral will remain a brand and trading division of the new group.
The Group headquarters is in Nottingham
Gala Bingo and Casino, Barking
Coral & Woking
Gala Coral E-commerce.
The Group through acquisitions and new developments have over 1630 Licenced Betting Offices.
Gala Bingo operates over 175 clubs throughout the United Kingdom
, with approximately a 24% share of all clubs and nearly 40% of National Bingo Game ticket sales up until the operator's withdrawal from the National Game in Summer 2008.
Gala has around five million bingo members, of which approximately 1.2 million are active players. Gala Bingo has an average of 600,000 admissions per week.
The bingo division began participation in the Nectar loyalty card
scheme on June 1, 2007. Nectar points were originally awarded for club admissions, and additionally for slot machine play from 1 September 2007 - a first for the UK Bingo industry.
On 31 July 2007 pensioner Pauline Clarke, 62, became Gala's first GBP millionaire, after winning a tie-break against another online player.
Gala Casino operates 20% of the UK casino market through its 32 outlets (30 of which are UK based).
Gala Casinos has 1.3 million members. Roulette
is the most popular game by far, accounting for 63% of gaming income. Punto Banco/Baccarat
is next with 19.1% and blackjack
11.1%.
In December 2000, the Gala Group made its first move into the casino sector with the acquisition of 26 Ladbrokes casinos from the Hilton Group. This established the Group’s leading position within the high volume, low stake sector of the gaming market.
Private equity firms Candover and Cinven acquired the Group in February 2003 and in August 2005 a third investor, Permira, bought a stake in the Group.
Coral is a bookmaker
in Britain, and currently has over 1700 betting shops in the UK as of October 2011 as well as hundreds in Italy trading under the Eurobet name.
Joe Coral began his bookmaking business in 1926, after borrowing some money off of a local cafe owner who happened to be a good friend of Joe's, operating betting pitches at greyhound courses. His great friend, Tom Bradbury-Pratt ran speedway meetings at Harringay and a number of other venues. He, and Joe Coral, went on to establish many speedway and greyhound tracks and Joe was one of the first bookmakers to take advantage of the 1960 legalisation of off-course betting shops and opened his first shop in 1961. In those days Coral were not afraid to lay large commissions, even to shrewd customers.
Coral was acquired by Bass in January 1981, by which time Coral was one of the largest leisure groups in the United Kingdom, comprising approximately 650 betting shops, two greyhound stadia, social clubs, casinos, hotels and holiday camps. Although the betting shops and stadia retained the Coral name, the other operations were integrated into Bass.
In December 1997 Ladbrokes acquired Coral from Bass. However, the acquisition was referred to the UK Monopolies and Mergers Commission and they concluded in September 1998 that Ladbrokes should not be allowed to retain ownership of Coral (however they were allowed to keep Coral's betting offices in the Channel Islands and integrated these into their own retail division).
Coral Group was then sold in a management buy-out backed by Morgan Grenfell Private Equity in February 1999. At the end of 1999 Eurobet, an internet betting business was acquired and the Group’s name was changed to Coral Eurobet.
The Coral Eurobet Group was then sold in a further management buy-out in September 2002 which was backed by Charterhouse Development Capital.
Coral owns two greyhound
racing stadia in Britain, at Romford
and Hove
. Coral also operates betting shops at three of Britain’s biggest racecourses – Cheltenham
, Epsom
, and Sandown Park (venue of the company sponsored 'Coral Eclipse
' race) , plus one each at Gatwick Airport (South Terminal) and Stansted Airport. Coral also has a successful Telebet business, based in Barking
.
Coral also operates an online casino
, an online gaming site, and an online poker
site.
Coral was the first major UK Bookmaker to sign to Turf TV on 22 December 2007.
Coral employs over 11000 betting shop staff within the UK
In 2007, the Group commenced the rollout of betting shops in Italy (under the 'Eurobet' brand) following its success in December 2006 in winning 403 sports and horse race betting licences, through a government-led auction. The Group also set up a joint venture in China.
In July 2009 Coral announced the relocation of their broadcasting department to Milton Keynes
to a purpose built studio to manage the inception of its new TV channel, Coral TV.
In May 2010 Coral bookmakers launched the Coral Dugouthttp://www.coraldugout.com/. Coral Dugout is designed to offer in-depth football knowledge from ex-Premier League referee Graham Poll and sports presenter Jeff Stelling
during the FIFA World Cup 2010. The Coral Dugout
http://www.coraldugout.com/ features the Coral Insider who posts daily betting odds and tips on the FIFA World Cup 2010 for all online visitors.
Eurobet serves clients in over 130 countries, providing online sports betting in the following languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese, Greek, Russian, Turkish, Bulgarian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Albanian and Czech.
Other services operated by the division include Gala TV.
Gala TV is a TV gaming channel that launched on October 4, 2006 on Sky Digital
and Freesat
channels 861. The channel shows bingo games.
Italy
The Group won 403 betting licences in the open market tender in December 2006 under its Eurobet brand.
China
The Group set up a joint venture to launch land-based bingo in China, with bingo being seen as the most appropriate point of entry for the Group.
in 1943.
He was, though, one of the first to take advantage of the new legislation and duly opened his first licensed betting office in 1961. The new law was, however, not intended to encourage betting
and therefore shops were positively unattractive in appearance and devoid of any comforts.
By 1962 there were 13,340 betting offices of which Coral owned 23. During the seventies the situation changed completely and by 1977 four major bookmakers had evolved (including Coral) who owned nearly 24% of the 13,254 shops operating. Coral's number had originally grown to 589 as a result of a merger with another bookmaker, Mark Lane in 1971.
By 1975 the company had become the Coral Leisure Group and had diversified to include a variety of other leisure activities comprising social clubs, casinos, hotels and later holiday camps.
In January 1981, however, the Coral Group was acquired by Bass plc and although it continued to retain the Coral name it became an integral part of the growing Bass Leisure. Bass is one of the oldest established UK companies, William Bass having started the brewing operation in 1777.
With Bass support the number of Coral shops continued to grow during the 80's via acquisitions of Bartletts and Heathorns in 1984, with 13 and 47 shops respectively, PTS in 1985 with 41 shops and Leisure Bookmakers in 1989 with 60 shops.
The private ownership meant that more acquisitions were to come and by the time Coral joined Gala the number of shops had grown to 1260. Coral also owns and operates two greyhound stadiums at Romford and Brighton & Hove (the latter being named the most scenic Greyhound Stadium in the UK), both of which operate using the Coral brand.
At the 2006 UK Gambling Awards, Coral was named "Bookmaker of the Year".
In December 2000, the Gala Group made its first move into the casino sector with the acquisition, of 26 Ladbrokes
casinos.
In October 2005, Gala Group and Coral Eurobet merged, creating one of the top 100 companies in the UK.
Private equity firms Candover
and Cinven
acquired the Group in February 2003 for £1.24 billion, and in August 2005 a third investor, Permira
, bought a stake in the company valuing Gala at nearly £1.9bn.
In January 2006, the Group acquired the County Clubs Bingo chain in Scotland, taking the total number of Gala Bingo Clubs to 174. A new bingo club in Cheltenham, Glos, is due to open 29 March.
In February 2006, the Group went on to acquire the Leo Casino in Liverpool
, from Dolby Management Ltd (which, as of February 2007 has retained its own separate brand), increasing the number of casinos in the estate to 31 (at the time).
Gala owns 174 Clubs, 32 Casino venues, two Greyhound stadiums, and over 1500 licensed betting offices.
On 7 November 2006, Gala Coral tabled a bid for the 540 state owned Tote licensed betting offices. The sale of the Tote was a manifesto commitment by the Labour Government. The bid was shortlisted, however the group later those to withdraw it to concentrate on restructuring.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
betting shop, bingo and casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
operator owned by private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
houses Candover Investments
Candover
Candover Investments plc is a British-based private equity firm, specialising in arranging and leading large buyouts and buyins. Candover Investments is structured as an investment trust...
, Cinven
Cinven
Cinven is a British private equity firm founded in 1977 with offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and Hong Kong. Currently, the company has raised four funds, with the last one signing up €6.5 billion...
and Permira
Permira
Permira is a United Kingdom-based private equity firm with global reach. The firm advises funds with a total committed capital of approximately €20 billion....
. In October 2005 it merged with Coral Eurobet for £2.18 billion. The acquisition made it the UK's third largest bookmaker and largest bingo
Bingo (Non-US)
Bingo or housey-housey or housie is a gambling game that began in Italy in the 1500s. The game is believed to have migrated to France, Great Britain, and other parts of Europe in the 1700s...
operator. It also owns over 30 casinos. Coral will remain a brand and trading division of the new group.
The Group headquarters is in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
Gala Bingo and Casino, Barking
Barking
Barking is a suburban town in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, in East London, England. A retail and commercial centre situated in the west of the borough, it lies east of Charing Cross. Barking was in the historic county of Essex until it was absorbed by Greater London. The area is...
Coral & Woking
Woking
Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....
Gala Coral E-commerce.
The Group through acquisitions and new developments have over 1630 Licenced Betting Offices.
Gala Bingo
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, with approximately a 24% share of all clubs and nearly 40% of National Bingo Game ticket sales up until the operator's withdrawal from the National Game in Summer 2008.
Gala has around five million bingo members, of which approximately 1.2 million are active players. Gala Bingo has an average of 600,000 admissions per week.
The bingo division began participation in the Nectar loyalty card
Nectar loyalty card
Nectar is a loyalty card scheme in the United Kingdom comprising partner companies including the supermarket chain Sainsbury's, American Express, and BP. A separate Nectar program operates in Italy....
scheme on June 1, 2007. Nectar points were originally awarded for club admissions, and additionally for slot machine play from 1 September 2007 - a first for the UK Bingo industry.
On 31 July 2007 pensioner Pauline Clarke, 62, became Gala's first GBP millionaire, after winning a tie-break against another online player.
Gala Casinos
Gala Casinos has 1.3 million members. Roulette
Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even....
is the most popular game by far, accounting for 63% of gaming income. Punto Banco/Baccarat
Baccarat
Baccarat is a card game, played at casinos and by gamblers. It is believed to have been introduced into France from Italy during the reign of King Charles VIII , and it is similar to Faro and Basset...
is next with 19.1% and blackjack
Blackjack
Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one or Vingt-et-un , is the most widely played casino banking game in the world...
11.1%.
In December 2000, the Gala Group made its first move into the casino sector with the acquisition of 26 Ladbrokes casinos from the Hilton Group. This established the Group’s leading position within the high volume, low stake sector of the gaming market.
Private equity firms Candover and Cinven acquired the Group in February 2003 and in August 2005 a third investor, Permira, bought a stake in the Group.
Coral
Bookmaker
A bookmaker, or bookie, is an organization or a person that takes bets on sporting and other events at agreed upon odds.- Range of events :...
in Britain, and currently has over 1700 betting shops in the UK as of October 2011 as well as hundreds in Italy trading under the Eurobet name.
Joe Coral began his bookmaking business in 1926, after borrowing some money off of a local cafe owner who happened to be a good friend of Joe's, operating betting pitches at greyhound courses. His great friend, Tom Bradbury-Pratt ran speedway meetings at Harringay and a number of other venues. He, and Joe Coral, went on to establish many speedway and greyhound tracks and Joe was one of the first bookmakers to take advantage of the 1960 legalisation of off-course betting shops and opened his first shop in 1961. In those days Coral were not afraid to lay large commissions, even to shrewd customers.
Coral was acquired by Bass in January 1981, by which time Coral was one of the largest leisure groups in the United Kingdom, comprising approximately 650 betting shops, two greyhound stadia, social clubs, casinos, hotels and holiday camps. Although the betting shops and stadia retained the Coral name, the other operations were integrated into Bass.
In December 1997 Ladbrokes acquired Coral from Bass. However, the acquisition was referred to the UK Monopolies and Mergers Commission and they concluded in September 1998 that Ladbrokes should not be allowed to retain ownership of Coral (however they were allowed to keep Coral's betting offices in the Channel Islands and integrated these into their own retail division).
Coral Group was then sold in a management buy-out backed by Morgan Grenfell Private Equity in February 1999. At the end of 1999 Eurobet, an internet betting business was acquired and the Group’s name was changed to Coral Eurobet.
The Coral Eurobet Group was then sold in a further management buy-out in September 2002 which was backed by Charterhouse Development Capital.
Coral owns two greyhound
Greyhound
The Greyhound is a breed of sighthound that has been primarily bred for coursing game and racing, and the breed has also recently seen a resurgence in its popularity as a pedigree show dog and family pet. It is a gentle and intelligent breed...
racing stadia in Britain, at Romford
Romford
Romford is a large suburban town in north east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan...
and Hove
Hove
Hove is a town on the south coast of England, immediately to the west of its larger neighbour Brighton, with which it forms the unitary authority Brighton and Hove. It forms a single conurbation together with Brighton and some smaller towns and villages running along the coast...
. Coral also operates betting shops at three of Britain’s biggest racecourses – Cheltenham
Cheltenham Racecourse
Cheltenham Racecourse is a racecourse for horse racing events, located at Prestbury Park, in the suburban village of Prestbury on the outskirts of the English town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire...
, Epsom
Epsom Downs Racecourse
Epsom Downs is a Grade 1 racecourse near Epsom, Surrey, England. The "downs" referred to in the name are part of the North Downs. The course is best known for hosting the Epsom Derby, the United Kingdom's premier thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old colts and fillies, over a mile and a half...
, and Sandown Park (venue of the company sponsored 'Coral Eclipse
Eclipse Stakes
The Eclipse Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Sandown Park over a distance of 1 mile, 2 furlongs and 7 yards , and it is scheduled to take place each year in early July.-History:The event is named after Eclipse, a...
' race) , plus one each at Gatwick Airport (South Terminal) and Stansted Airport. Coral also has a successful Telebet business, based in Barking
Barking
Barking is a suburban town in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, in East London, England. A retail and commercial centre situated in the west of the borough, it lies east of Charing Cross. Barking was in the historic county of Essex until it was absorbed by Greater London. The area is...
.
Coral also operates an online casino
Online casino
Online casinos, also known as virtual casinos or Internet casinos, are online versions of traditional casinos. Online casinos enable gamblers to play and wager on casino games through the Internet....
, an online gaming site, and an online poker
Online poker
Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a dramatic increase in the number of poker players worldwide...
site.
Coral was the first major UK Bookmaker to sign to Turf TV on 22 December 2007.
Coral employs over 11000 betting shop staff within the UK
In 2007, the Group commenced the rollout of betting shops in Italy (under the 'Eurobet' brand) following its success in December 2006 in winning 403 sports and horse race betting licences, through a government-led auction. The Group also set up a joint venture in China.
In July 2009 Coral announced the relocation of their broadcasting department to Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
to a purpose built studio to manage the inception of its new TV channel, Coral TV.
In May 2010 Coral bookmakers launched the Coral Dugouthttp://www.coraldugout.com/. Coral Dugout is designed to offer in-depth football knowledge from ex-Premier League referee Graham Poll and sports presenter Jeff Stelling
Jeff Stelling
Robert Jeffrey "Jeff" Stelling is an English sports journalist and sport television presenter, of Gillette Soccer Saturday for Sky Sports and other programming for the satellite broadcaster. In January 2009 he took over as host of the Channel 4 quiz show Countdown...
during the FIFA World Cup 2010. The Coral Dugout
http://www.coraldugout.com/ features the Coral Insider who posts daily betting odds and tips on the FIFA World Cup 2010 for all online visitors.
Marketing and Advertising
As part of their experiential marketing campaign strategy, Coral engaged in the ‘RUN 4 IT’ campaign, requiring brand ambassadors dressed in trademark robber costumes, to physically ‘steal’ customers from competitor bookies. Over the course of this 3 week campaign, punters were encouraged to change their betting habits with the lure of a guaranteed win loyalty card and then walked by the ambassadors to the nearest Coral. This campaign saw a 7% conversion rate and 2,447 customers were ‘stolen’ from 900 bookies.E-Commerce Division
The division is responsible for the development, management and operation of all the E-Commerce activities of the Gala Coral Group. The division is also the online betting and gaming arm of the Gala Coral Group, offering a wide variety of products and betting opportunities both in the UK and internationally through the Group’s branded services.- galabingo.com,
- GalaTV.co.uk,
- galacasino.co.uk,
- coral.co.uk
- eurobet.com
- sportpress.com
Eurobet serves clients in over 130 countries, providing online sports betting in the following languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese, Greek, Russian, Turkish, Bulgarian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Albanian and Czech.
Other services operated by the division include Gala TV.
Gala TV is a TV gaming channel that launched on October 4, 2006 on Sky Digital
Sky Digital (UK & Ireland)
Sky is the brand name for British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite television and radio service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28.2° east and Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 satellite at 28.5°E. The service was originally launched as Sky Digital, distinguishing it from the original...
and Freesat
Freesat
Freesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008...
channels 861. The channel shows bingo games.
International Division
The international division of Gala Coral was formally established on 1 October 2007. The aim of the International division is to develop an integrated multi-brand strategy. The first example of this is Italy with Eurobet retail and eurobet.itItaly
The Group won 403 betting licences in the open market tender in December 2006 under its Eurobet brand.
China
The Group set up a joint venture to launch land-based bingo in China, with bingo being seen as the most appropriate point of entry for the Group.
Coral Eurobet History
Joe Coral (born Joseph Kagarlitski, 11 December 1904) began his bookmaking business in 1926 and, although primarily concerned with operating betting pitches at racecourses, he did open a credit office in the West End of LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1943.
He was, though, one of the first to take advantage of the new legislation and duly opened his first licensed betting office in 1961. The new law was, however, not intended to encourage betting
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
and therefore shops were positively unattractive in appearance and devoid of any comforts.
By 1962 there were 13,340 betting offices of which Coral owned 23. During the seventies the situation changed completely and by 1977 four major bookmakers had evolved (including Coral) who owned nearly 24% of the 13,254 shops operating. Coral's number had originally grown to 589 as a result of a merger with another bookmaker, Mark Lane in 1971.
By 1975 the company had become the Coral Leisure Group and had diversified to include a variety of other leisure activities comprising social clubs, casinos, hotels and later holiday camps.
In January 1981, however, the Coral Group was acquired by Bass plc and although it continued to retain the Coral name it became an integral part of the growing Bass Leisure. Bass is one of the oldest established UK companies, William Bass having started the brewing operation in 1777.
With Bass support the number of Coral shops continued to grow during the 80's via acquisitions of Bartletts and Heathorns in 1984, with 13 and 47 shops respectively, PTS in 1985 with 41 shops and Leisure Bookmakers in 1989 with 60 shops.
The private ownership meant that more acquisitions were to come and by the time Coral joined Gala the number of shops had grown to 1260. Coral also owns and operates two greyhound stadiums at Romford and Brighton & Hove (the latter being named the most scenic Greyhound Stadium in the UK), both of which operate using the Coral brand.
At the 2006 UK Gambling Awards, Coral was named "Bookmaker of the Year".
Gala History
Gala Bingo was formed in 1991 when Coral Social Clubs (owned by Bass plc) merged with Granada Social Clubs. Gala was officially launched on October 17, 1991 when 17 clubs re-branded and launched a new image. In 1997 a management buy-in purchased 130 Gala Bingo Clubs from Bass. The management team led the management buy-in. The deal was backed by PPM Ventures.In December 2000, the Gala Group made its first move into the casino sector with the acquisition, of 26 Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes plc is a British based gambling company. It is based in Rayners Lane in Harrow, London owned by Bhavin Kakaiya. From 14 May 1999 to 23 February 2006, when it owned the Hilton hotel brand outside the United States, it was known as Hilton Group plc...
casinos.
In October 2005, Gala Group and Coral Eurobet merged, creating one of the top 100 companies in the UK.
Private equity firms Candover
Candover
Candover Investments plc is a British-based private equity firm, specialising in arranging and leading large buyouts and buyins. Candover Investments is structured as an investment trust...
and Cinven
Cinven
Cinven is a British private equity firm founded in 1977 with offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and Hong Kong. Currently, the company has raised four funds, with the last one signing up €6.5 billion...
acquired the Group in February 2003 for £1.24 billion, and in August 2005 a third investor, Permira
Permira
Permira is a United Kingdom-based private equity firm with global reach. The firm advises funds with a total committed capital of approximately €20 billion....
, bought a stake in the company valuing Gala at nearly £1.9bn.
In January 2006, the Group acquired the County Clubs Bingo chain in Scotland, taking the total number of Gala Bingo Clubs to 174. A new bingo club in Cheltenham, Glos, is due to open 29 March.
In February 2006, the Group went on to acquire the Leo Casino in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, from Dolby Management Ltd (which, as of February 2007 has retained its own separate brand), increasing the number of casinos in the estate to 31 (at the time).
Gala owns 174 Clubs, 32 Casino venues, two Greyhound stadiums, and over 1500 licensed betting offices.
On 7 November 2006, Gala Coral tabled a bid for the 540 state owned Tote licensed betting offices. The sale of the Tote was a manifesto commitment by the Labour Government. The bid was shortlisted, however the group later those to withdraw it to concentrate on restructuring.