Race to Buy Tote Hots up as Ladbrokes bid is Scrapped
Tote Sport
The initial eighteen bids for the Tote are now thought to have been whittled down to somewhere in the region of half a dozen following the UK government's first look at the bids on offer.
The most high profile of the bids that have been pushed aside is thought to be one headed up by former Ladbrokes bosses Chris Bell and John O’Reilly. The pair was backed by GI bookmakers and were hoping to outbid a number of their rivals.
However, still left in the race to take over the Tote are bookmakers Gala Coral and BetFred. Gala Coral are thought to be one of the favourites to secure the government betting organisations. This is despite a £188 million deficit in revenue and the company have submitted a formal bid to Lazard, the organisation handling the sale of the Tote.
Also involved in the bidding for the Tote are British Airways chairman Sir Martin Broughton, Simon and David Reuben who own Northern Racing and the current Tote board led by their chairman Mike Smith. Should the last of these parties be successful then the ownership would be handed over to a charitable trust in order to benefit racing.
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