LCL plots launch of Coral exchange
Expanded pool of exchange liquidity could ultimately be extended to bwin and Sportingbet, EGR understands
Ladbrokes Coral (LCL) is planning to launch a Coral exchange as part of a wider rollout that could see one exchange drawing liquidity from all LCL and GVC sports brands, EGR Intel can reveal.
The firm currently pools liquidity between its Betdaq platform and the Ladbrokes exchange, with LCL exchange director Shane McLaughlin telling EGR this week that adding a Coral exchange to the network is being “actively discussed”.
“It’s a really low marginal cost to add that to the business, and we have the data from the Ladbrokes exchange to show we’ve dispelled the cannibalization argument and to show what it would do for us,” McLaughlin said.
There is no set timeline for the launch, with McLaughlin adding: “There’s a lot of systems integrations to go through with the LCL merger, but it’s in the mix, and it’s a case of waiting for everything else to go through before we can do that.”
McLaughlin also envisaged extending to network to GVC’s sportsbook brands, bwin and Sportingbet should the £4bn takeover complete as expected.
“Again, it’s a very low cost to add those exchanges so profits would flow directly to the bottom line, which is what makes that model so interesting with the other brands we may have access to,” the exec added.
McLaughlin did specify this was an internal plan and he had not yet held conversations with GVC.
That said, LCL has ramped up its investment in Betdaq in recent months, increasing its digital marketing spend and cutting commission rates to 2% across the board.
The announcement continues a recent trend of exchanges cutting their prices in an effort to boost liquidity and volume, with Matchbook currently offering 0% commission on all horseracing until the end of the Cheltenham Festival.