Ladbrokes No 1 here after €157m shop deal

BOOKIE and boxing promoter Barney Eastwood has sold his chain of betting shops to Ladbrokes for €157 million.

The acquisition of the 54-strong chain makes Ladbrokes the biggest bookmaker on the island of Ireland with a total of 271 shops. This figure exceeds rivals Paddy Power, Boylesports, William Hill and Celtic Bookmakers.

Mr Eastwood, best known for managing the former super-featherweight world champion Barry McGuigan, set up the betting chain in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, in 1954 with his wife Frances.

The shops trade under the Eastwood Bookmakers name and 30 of them are located in the Belfast area.

The business employs about 300 people and the sale to Ladbrokes also includes its telephone betting operations.

Mr Eastwood was one of the top boxing promoters in the 1980s, and in addition to McGuigan handled such stars as Crisanto Espana, Ray Close and Dave Boy McAuley.

He said yesterday: “It is the end of the bookmaking era. I am very sad that it is going but I just think that it is the right thing to do, to move on.”

The sale price represents a significant premium on what shops in the Republic are changing hands for. However, Joe Lewins, head of Ladbrokes in Ireland, said this is because of restrictions on opening new shops in the North.

“You have to prove demand in an area so the licences are hard to come by,” he said.

Mr Lewins said Ladbrokes had been looking to expand beyond its existing 16 shops in the North and Eastwoods was the logical choice.

“The biggest bookmaker in the North by some distance was the Eastwoods and that was the sort of brand we were looking for. Their stronghold is Belfast and that was what we were looking for,” he said.

Ladbrokes said the shops would add about €15m this year to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of goodwill.

Mr Lewins said Ladbrokes was looking to add to its existing 201 betting shops in the Republic and favoured acquisitions over setting up its own shops.

“If something comes up that would be a strategic fit we will give it consideration. If a deal is right we will very seriously consider it.”

He added that Ladbrokes was in favour of the Government allowing fixed-odds betting terminals in Irish betting as part of its review of gaming laws. He said there was a demand for fixed-odds terminals, which are allowed in shops in England and the North.