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Coral cash in.

Coral have announced solid figures for the last nine months trading, pointing to the launch of Coralpoker.com as a driver for business.

The chain, Britain’s third biggest, has managed to repay £560 million of capital to investors thanks to a strong growth in sales. Coral may also be floated next year, joining William Hill and Ladbrokes, both listed competitors.

'Retail, internet and telebet, our three business channels, are growing strongly,” said Jeremy Greenhalgh, responsible for Coral’s refinancing. “This business is enjoying industry leading organic growth rates and there are still further opportunities to expand the chain and launch new products.”

Coral’s value has risen from £1.35bn in February to £1.6bn, and the chain has expanded from 874 shops to 1,106 outlets in the last two years.

London Clubs bid for mega casino.

London Clubs International highlighted its interest in the scramble to operate one of the UK's eight proposed mega casinos. The group, which owns Les Ambassadeurs casino in Park Lane, London, said it had four or five potential partners ready to take advantage of gambling deregulation.

The government is set to announce further details about the eight Las Vegas-style casinos next. London Clubs already has a casino in Southend in Essex which is seen as one of the possible sites.

Barry Hardy, chief executive, said: 'We have had a lot of approaches from a wide variety of people, not only gaming operations but also financial and property-related companies. We know how to run casinos and, should we decide to bid for one or more of the eight proposed regional resort casinos, it would make sense to bring in a partner who has the expertise and financial backing to help us develop the business.'

However, he stressed that the company would not get into a bidding war and he said second-tier casinos would be a more likely avenue for expansion.

London Clubs already has strong financial backing from Genting, the Malaysian group, which owns 15 per cent of its shares.