Coral is a chain of betting shops in the United Kingdom, owned by Entain. The Coral business was established by Joe Coral in 1926. It grew into an entertainment conglomerate before undergoing a series of ownership changes starting in 1981. As of 2015, Coral had 1,845 shops across the country.^[1]

History[edit]

Joe Coral (born Joseph Kagarlitski, 11 December 1904 – 16 December 1996^[2][3]) began his bookmaking business in 1926 and, although primarily concerned with operating betting pitches at racecourses, together with his friend Tom Bradbury-Pratt, he ran speedway meetings at Harringay and opened a credit office in the West End of London in 1943.

He had greyhound racing pitches at Harringay Stadium and then White City Stadium followed later by Clapton Stadium and Walthamstow Stadium before branching into betting offices.^[4][5]

He was one of the first to take advantage of the new legislation and opened his first licensed betting office in 1961. The new law was not intended to encourage betting and therefore shops were unattractive in appearance and devoid of any comforts.

Coral arranged a merger with another bookmaker, Mark Lane in 1971. By 1979, the company had become the Coral Leisure Group and had diversified to include a variety of other businesses, including casinos, hotels, restaurants, Pontins holiday camps, squash clubs, bingo clubs, and real estate.^[6]

In January 1981, the Coral Group was acquired by Bass plc and although it continued to retain the Coral name it became an integral part of the growing Bass Leisure.

In September 1998, Bass sold Coral to the Ladbroke Group for £363 million.^[7] The UK Government, however, ordered Ladbroke to sell Coral after the Monopolies and Mergers Commission found that the acquisition was anti-competitive.^[7] The Coral business, except for 59 shops in Ireland and Jersey, was sold in a management buyout financed by Morgan Grenfell Private Equity for £390 million in February 1999.^[8][9]

In November 1999, Coral acquired Eurobet, an online betting operation based in Gibraltar, for £7.1 million.^[10][11] The company changed its name to Coral Eurobet in May 2000.^[12] Coral Eurobet was then sold in a further management buy out in September 2002, which was backed by Charterhouse Development Capital.^[13]

To start playing, you’ll need to sign up for an online account at Coral using the quick and simple registration process. Once you’ve signed up, head to the Gaming tab to browse our huge selection. You’ll find the games split into helpful sections – including New Games, Live Games and more. This Sports Promotion is open to Online, Mobile & Telephone Coral customers only aged 18 years or over betting in either £/€ currency whose accounts are registered in the UK & Republic of Ireland Employees of the Promoter, any advertising agency or web company connected with the promoter or any such person's agents or members of their. Frustrating i love the lay out of coral compared to other apps, the odds seem to be better, and more leagues to bet in which is really good, how ever i stopped using it for a while because of logging issues and coral shutting down for maintenance with out warning, i some times will back a team who are 100/1 to win as some times if they score first or the game is 0:0 the cash out can give. Here at Coral, we’ve got countless ways to spread your Bingo wings, with plenty of different varieties of the classic game, from the traditional rules to innovative versions of Bingo with a twist. We’ve got 90-Ball Bingo, 80-Ball Bingo, 75-Ball Bingo, 30-Ball Bingo to enjoy, plus you can head to our Bingo Rooms to enjoy Speedball, Fab Grab.

In October 2005, Coral Eurobet was acquired for £2.18 billion by casino and bingo firm Gala, which changed its name to Gala Coral Group, creating the United Kingdom's third largest bookmaker and largest bingo operator.^[14] Coral and Eurobet continued to operate as divisions of Gala Coral.^[15]

In July 2009, Coral announced the relocation of their broadcasting department to Milton Keynes to a purpose built studio to manage the inception of its new television channel, Coral TV.^[16]

In May 2010, Coral bookmakers launched the Coral Dugout which was designed to offer in-depth football knowledge from ex-Premier League referee Graham Poll and sports presenter Jeff Stelling during the FIFA World Cup 2010.^[17] In November 2011, Coral announced they had signed for 30,793 sq ft of offices at One Stratford Place at Westfields £1.45bn Stratford City scheme opposite the Olympics stadium in east London.^[18]

In November 2016, Gala Coral was acquired by Ladbrokes, which changed its name to Ladbrokes Coral.^[19] Coral and Ladbrokes shops continued to operate under their respective names.^[20] GVC Holdings acquired Ladbrokes Coral in March 2018.^[21]

Marketing and advertising[edit]

As part of their experimental marketing campaign strategy, Coral engaged in the ‘RUN 4 IT’ campaign, requiring brand ambassadors dressed in trademark robber costumes, to physically ‘steal’ customers from competitor bookies. Over the course of this three week campaign, punters were encouraged to change their betting habits with the lure of a guaranteed win loyalty card and then walked by the ambassadors to the nearest Coral. This campaign saw a 7% conversion rate and 2,447 customers were ‘stolen’ from 900 bookies.^[22]

References[edit]

1. ^John-Paul Ford Rojas (24 July 2015). 'Betting giants Ladbrokes and Coral merge to create UK's biggest bookmaker - but will it close stores and axe jobs?'. The Daily Mirror. London. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
2. ^Rubinstein, William D.; Jolles, Michael; Rubinstein, Hilary L. (2011). The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 182. ISBN978-1-4039-3910-4.
3. ^''Joe Coral'. The Times London, England, 19 Dec. 1996'. The Times Digital Archive.
4. ^Genders, Roy (1975). The Greyhound and Racing Greyhound. Page Brothers (Norwich). ISBN0-85020-0474.
5. ^Genders, Roy (1981). The Encyclopedia of Greyhound Racing. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN07207-1106-1.
6. ^Limited Report and Accounts 1979 (Report). Coral Leisure Group. 11 June 1980. pp. 8–20 – via Companies House.
7. ^ ^abFrancisco Guerrera (23 September 1998). 'DTI bars Ladbroke from buying Coral'. The Independent. London. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
8. ^Eibhir Mulqueen (23 December 1998). 'Irish Coral shops not part of Ladbroke sell-off'. Irish Times. Dublin – via NewsBank.
9. ^Listing particulars (Report). Ladbroke Group. 10 March 1999. p. 47 – via Companies House.^{[permanent dead link]}
10. ^Daneshkhu, Scheherazade; Rivlin, Richard (25 February 2000). 'Coral aiming for £1bn flotation'. Financial Times. London – via NewsBank.
11. ^Report and Accounts (Report). Coral Eurobet. 24 September 2000. p. 27 – via Companies House.
12. ^Report and Accounts (Report). Coral Eurobet. 24 September 2000. p. 2 – via Companies House.
13. ^'Coral chain bought in MBO for 860m pounds'. The Scotsman. 3 August 2002. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
14. ^'Casino group Gala snaps up Coral'. BBC. 7 October 2005. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
15. ^Annual Report for 2007(PDF) (Report). Gala Coral Group. pp. 10 & 16. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
16. ^'New systems integration team builds state-of-the-art production facility for UK bookmakers'. SIS News. 27 October 2009. Archived from the original on 4 November 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
17. ^'Will Rooney Rule the World Cup? Will Messi Make His Mark? The Coral Dugout Will Be Full of World Cup Insight and Excitement This Summer!'. Market wired. 24 May 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
18. ^'Westfield books Coral for Stratford HQ'. Costar. 1 November 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
19. ^'Ladbrokes Coral Group – Completion of Merger' (Press release). Ladbrokes Coral Group. 1 November 2016. Retrieved 2017-12-27.
20. ^Barber, Bill (31 October 2016). 'Coral-Ladbrokes merger completes on Tuesday'. Racing Post. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
21. ^Davies, Craig (29 March 2018). 'GVC Holdings completes long awaited Ladbrokes Coral acquisition'. SBC News. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
22. ^'Coral Experiential Marketing Results'. iD Experiential. Archived from the original on 2012-03-13. Retrieved 2018-03-31.

External links[edit]

There’s no question that betting online is today far more popular than physically visiting a betting shop to get your wagers on. Popping a quick bet on the gee-gees or the day’s football from the comfort of your sofa, after all, is brilliantly quick, easy and convenient.

In some circumstances, however, it can be beneficial and fun to head to a local betting shop rather than simply doing all of your punting online. The Coral Connect Card makes it easier and simpler for punters to combine their online and in-store betting and offers a selection of additional notable advantages to users. Those advantages, along with all of the other key information about the Coral Connect Card, are what you will find right here on this page.

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What is the Coral Connect Card?

Coral describe their Connect card as ‘an interactive multi-channel’ card which allows punters to bet how and when they like, across all of the bookmaker’s various platforms. What that means is that a Coral customer with a Coral Connect Card are able to use it in one form or another to bet in store, over the phone and online via desktop, mobile or tablet using one connected account.

That means that betting with Coral in whichever form is made far easier and more convenient, thanks to a number of new things which the Connect Card allows for:

Collecting Winnings In-Shop

With a Coral Connect Card, Coral customers can walk into one of the bookmaker’s many betting shops and use their card to collect winnings they have earnt online in cold, hard cash.

Deposit in Cash

Whilst there are generally a lot of options when it comes to depositing to an online betting account, depositing in cash hasn’t previously been possible. With a Coral Connect Card, though, punters can fund their online accounts from in-store with money from their wallet.

Exclusive Offers

As well as the above notable benefits of having a Coral Connect Card, users of the card can also enjoy regular exclusive promotions and bonuses. These comprise both in-store and online offers, and include a reward for signing up to the service.

Fancy a Connect Card? Sign up to coral today & bet £5 get £20 bonus!

T&C's apply, new customers only, 18+

How to Get a Coral Connect Card

If the above has convinced you that a Coral Connect Card is something you simply can’t do without, you can get your hands on one quickly and easily by follow these straightforward step-by-step instructions:

1. If you haven’t already, sign up for a Coral account at coral.co.uk. New customers can bet £5 get £20 in free bets (T&C's apply, new customers only, 18+).
2. Find your local Coral betting shop. There’s a handy ‘Shop Locator’ tool featured as part of the Coral Connect section of the Coral website to give you a helping hand.
3. Head to the Coral betting shop and tell a member of staff you want to get a Coral Connect Card.
4. The staff member will ask for your coral.co.uk username and will then ask you to select a four digit pin number.
5. Your new Coral Connect Card will then be activated in store and be ready to use within minutes.

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FAQ

Additionally, if you have deposited to your coral.co.uk account using a debit card and then head to a betting shop to withdraw any winnings using your Coral Connect Card for the first time, you will need to produce that debit card.

Coral Online Betting Sign Interpretation

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