The Rank Group’s acquisition of the Gala Casinos business from Gala Coral has been referred to the Competition Commission by the UK’s Office of Fair Trading.
In May, Rank announced that it had conditionally agreed to acquire Gala Casinos for a sum of £205m. The acquisition was subject to the approval of the company’s shareholders and upon UK merger control clearance.
The move would make Rank the UK’s largest casino operator by number of clubs, ahead of the current leader, Genting UK.
On Monday, however, Rank revealed that Competition Commission would be looking into the deal.
The leisure group is now considering the implications of the decision and will be making a further announcement in due course.
