{"id":87168,"date":"2018-09-03T09:50:46","date_gmt":"2018-09-03T16:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=87168"},"modified":"2018-09-03T09:55:11","modified_gmt":"2018-09-03T16:55:11","slug":"gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/","title":{"rendered":"GVC Holdings Denies \u00a3700 Million \u2018Great Pensions Robbery\u2019 Claim in Ladbrokes Coral Takeover"},"content":{"rendered":"

GVC Holdings has rejected claims that the structure of its recent takeover of British bookmaking giant Ladbrokes Coral<\/a> has enabled it to \u201cswindle\u201d hundreds of millions from pension funds invested in its new acquisition.<\/p>\n

\"GVC
The UK government\u2019s decision to delay the slashing of FOBT max stakes until 2020 has left GVC with a \u201c\u00a3700 million windfall,\u201d according to NPC, which it says belongs to British pension holders. (Image: Ladbrokes Coral)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The little-known National Pensioners Convention (NPC) has accused GVC of perpetrating a \u201cGreat Pensions Robbery\u201d that deprives pension holders of some \u00a3700 million ($900 million) — an accusation the company has described as \u201chighly emotive\u201d and \u201cill founded.\u201d The NPC claims to be a union-linked advocate group that lobbies on behalf of pension holders.<\/p>\n

Drastic Action<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The controversy lies in the idiosyncratic terms of the deal, which was proposed in December 2017 as a government cut in the maximum stakes of fixed-odds betting terminals loomed.<\/p>\n

\n

As Britain\u2019s biggest retail bookmaker, Ladbrokes Coral had the most to lose from the impending slash in stakes and this would substantially affect its selling price. The machines account for around 60 percent of betting shop profits.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

GVC proposed a valuation based on a variable scale, depending on the outcome of the government review. Should maximum stakes be cut from \u00a3100 per spin to \u00a350, for example, it would pay \u00a34 billion in cash and paper to acquire Ladbrokes Coral. But if the government went for the drastic option and curbed the stakes to \u00a32, GVC would pay \u00a33.2 billion. The extra cash on offer was dubbed a \u201ccontingent value right\u201d (CVR).<\/p>\n

In May, the government announced it was taking the most extreme option<\/a>, despite protestations from the gambling industry that \u00a32 maximum stakes would cause job cuts and the closure of hundreds of betting outlets across the UK.<\/p>\n

GVC Windfall<\/strong><\/h2>\n

GVC announced the Ladbrokes Coral deal would go ahead and that the CVR would be zero, in accordance with the terms. But the subsequent announcement that the stakes would not be slashed until April 2020, allowing GVC to make an additional \u00a31 billion from the machines until that date, has caused NPR to cry foul.<\/p>\n

NPR claims pension fund managers that held shares in Ladbrokes Coral are being \u201cdiddled\u201d out of CVR. It has also criticized the government for railroading legislation, despite knowing it would give GVC \u201ca \u00a3700 million windfall,\u201d which, it claims, \u201crightfully belongs to UK pensioners.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese are highly emotive claims which are inaccurate and ill-founded,\u201d said GVC in an official statement. \u201cGVC\u2019s takeover of Ladbrokes was conducted to the highest standards of City governance. A decisive 99.98 per cent of Ladbrokes shareholders voted for the agreement, which was comprehensively documented in the fully-verified circular sent to all shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GVC Holdings has rejected claims that the structure of its recent takeover of British bookmaking giant Ladbrokes Coral has enabled it to \u201cswindle\u201d hundreds of millions from pension funds invested in its new acquisition. The little-known National Pensioners Convention (NPC) has accused GVC of perpetrating a \u201cGreat Pensions Robbery\u201d that deprives pension holders of some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":87171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,21,10,13592],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGVC Holdings Denies 'Pension Robbery' in Ladbrokes Coral Takeover<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"GVC Labrokes Coral takeover criticized by advocacy group NPC, which claims the deal swindled pension holders out of hundreds of millions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GVC Holdings Denies 'Pension Robbery' in Ladbrokes Coral Takeover\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GVC Labrokes Coral takeover criticized by advocacy group NPC, which claims the deal swindled pension holders out of hundreds of millions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-03T16:50:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-03T16:55:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ladbrokes-coral.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1578\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1052\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/\",\"name\":\"GVC Holdings Denies 'Pension Robbery' in Ladbrokes Coral Takeover\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ladbrokes-coral.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-03T16:50:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-03T16:55:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"GVC Labrokes Coral takeover criticized by advocacy group NPC, which claims the deal swindled pension holders out of hundreds of millions.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ladbrokes-coral.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ladbrokes-coral.jpg\",\"width\":1578,\"height\":1052,\"caption\":\"The UK government\u2019s decision to delay the slashing of FOBT max stakes until 2020 has left GVC with a \u201c\u00a3700 million windfall,\u201d according to NPC, which it says belongs to British pension holders. (Image: Ladbrokes Coral)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Commercial Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"GVC Holdings Denies \u00a3700 Million \u2018Great Pensions Robbery\u2019 Claim in Ladbrokes Coral Takeover\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"GVC Holdings Denies 'Pension Robbery' in Ladbrokes Coral Takeover","description":"GVC Labrokes Coral takeover criticized by advocacy group NPC, which claims the deal swindled pension holders out of hundreds of millions.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"GVC Holdings Denies 'Pension Robbery' in Ladbrokes Coral Takeover","og_description":"GVC Labrokes Coral takeover criticized by advocacy group NPC, which claims the deal swindled pension holders out of hundreds of millions.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2018-09-03T16:50:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-09-03T16:55:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1578,"height":1052,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ladbrokes-coral.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/","name":"GVC Holdings Denies 'Pension Robbery' in Ladbrokes Coral Takeover","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ladbrokes-coral.jpg","datePublished":"2018-09-03T16:50:46+00:00","dateModified":"2018-09-03T16:55:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"GVC Labrokes Coral takeover criticized by advocacy group NPC, which claims the deal swindled pension holders out of hundreds of millions.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ladbrokes-coral.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ladbrokes-coral.jpg","width":1578,"height":1052,"caption":"The UK government\u2019s decision to delay the slashing of FOBT max stakes until 2020 has left GVC with a \u201c\u00a3700 million windfall,\u201d according to NPC, which it says belongs to British pension holders. (Image: Ladbrokes Coral)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gvc-holdings-denies-pension-robbery-in-ladbrokes-coral-takeover\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Commercial Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"GVC Holdings Denies \u00a3700 Million \u2018Great Pensions Robbery\u2019 Claim in Ladbrokes Coral Takeover"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87168"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}