According to the Sunday Telegraph, the consortium of Racecourse Holdings Trust, Arena Leisure, Northern Racing and 40 individual investors from the Racehorse Owners\’ Association, must pay up to £400m to secure the takeover.
If the consortium cannot raise the cash, The Tote, which operates 540 betting shops, three online websites and a mobile betting service, will be put up for auction. Several gambling groups such as Coral Eurobet as well as private equity investors such as Duke Street Capital are understood to be interested in the pool betting operator.
Elsewhere, Harrah\’s Entertainment, the world\’s largest gaming company, is reportedly studying a proposal to buy casino operators Stanley Leisure and London Clubs International in a bid to break into the British market.
UPDATE: In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, Northern Racing said& the company formally withdrew its interest and is no longer part of the process of working with a racing consortium to make an offer for The Tote. “Simply to end speculation that was made in a Sunday newspaper that we were part of a consortium that was going to make a bid of £400million for the Tote,” commented the firm\’s Finance Director.
“We didn\’t want our shareholders believing we were going to be making an offer of that sort of magnitude when it wasn\’t true,” he added.
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