Ladbrokes Review

Preface

Formed in 1886, Ladbrokes has been at the top of the sports betting industry for well over a century now. The company started from humble beginnings, with Schwind and Pennington running a commission agency for horses trained at Ladbroke Hall in Warwickshire.

The company really kicked off when Arthur Bendir joined the team and following that relocated to London and started to work within the higher society betting sectors. Throughout the early 20th Century they were very much considered to be the bookmaker of the rich and famous, backed up by the offices being based in the up-market surroundings of Mayfair, London.

After the Betting and Gaming Act of 1961 came in the company started to flourish. They soon opened a fleet of high street betting shops and by 1973 had opened over 1,135 in the UK alone, making them the biggest bookmaker in the world at the time.

In more modern times the company has changed hands, added companies to their brand and also sold off large parts probably as much as any bookmaker ever.

One of the most recent and the biggest in terms of a shift for the business came in 2016 when the Ladbrokes brand merged with the Coral bookmaker. It was a deal reported to be worth some £2.3 billion. The pair had tried to merge in 1999 when Ladbrokes bought Coral but were then ordered to sell based on them having an unfair market share as a result.

Not long after the ink had dried on the Ladbrokes-Coral merger, GVC Holdings stepped in and bought the new brand for £4 billion in 2018. This was timed along with Ladbrokes' acquisition of the Playtech brand to strengthen its omnichannel integration strategy.

Whilst the company is very much a global brand, their bread and butter still lie within the UK. They now have over 16,000 employees and created over £2 billion in revenue in 2018.

Available Products

The sportsbook is what Ladbrokes is best known for. The site includes a huge range of sports and markets, but it's their drive to create a ton of promotions that set them apart from so many of their competitors.

Ladbrokes have been able to link their high street betting shops to their online betting sites via The Grid. This is a card that can be used that links one account for all bets placed in a revolutionary move. It's innovations like this that have set Ladbrokes higher than most bookmakers can dream of reaching.

Given that Ladbrokes bought Playtech in 2018, it probably comes as little surprise to hear that they are now using them as the main game provider within their casino. Playtech has been voted one of the best in the business for several years now and their range of slots is second to none. The inclusion of the likes of DC Comics along with some self-branded titles offers a good mix of games throughout.

The Ladbrokes Bingo site is targeted almost exclusively at the UK market and utilises the impressive software provider that is Virtue Fusion. As a result, you get to enjoy a huge range of games, including 75-ball, 80-ball and 90-ball variants, with games such as Deal or No Deal and Rainbow Riches all on offer.

The poker room used to be one of the biggest in the UK, but it's a little more subdued these days. They run on the iPoker network which is still one of the best and you can enjoy a wide range of games, such as Texas Hold'em, Stud, Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo.