Gala Bingo has bought Coral Eurobet in a deal that will create one of Europe’s biggest gaming businesses. The price is a mere £2.18 billion or $3.88 billion and makes Coral chief executive Vaughn Ashdown up to £60 million. The bid for Coral will, according to The Times, see Gala withdraw from competing for The National Lottery bidding.

The merger creates a UK gambling giant that will no doubt benefit from recent changes in the casino laws. Although Gala claim they have a “strong presence on the internet” in reality they are new to the online bingo world having just recently established their online bingo rooms with Parlay. The merger with Coral, who do have a strong online presence will no doubt be a big benefit to the online Gala Bingo service.