Europe’s biggest gambling group today released it’s first financial results since it’s major restructuring and they show the company is £188 million in the red.
Gala Coral, which encompasses the Coral bookmaker chain along with 144 bingo clubs, 26 casinos and various online betting sites, has sales of £1.2bn in the period ending 25th March 2025. But as a result of the revaluing of assets £123 was lost and a further £54 million was spent in restructuring costs the over all operating profit was only £105m.
The company accountants actually had some good news during 2025 from, of all people, HMRC, when they were handed a £70m refund for overpaid VAT on it’s bingo and slot machines.
However, the operating profit was completely wiped out by interest charges of £306m. As bleak as this all seems, it is still a distinct improvement of the £495 overall loss recorded in 2025. The complete and lengthy refinancing of the company during this period saw it’s private equity owners wiped out, losing £670m, and control pass to the the company’s debt holders which are led by Apollo Management from the USA. This process resulted in Gala cutting it’s outstanding debt by £350m to £2,2bn.
Gala Coral, headed since March by Carl Leaver, remains high on the list of companies vying to buy the state-owned bookmaker, the Tote. The sale of which is being handled by the investment bank Lazard, with the favoured bidder due to be announced next month.
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