Gala Coral History

Updated: 15.08.2025

For several decades, the Gala Coral Group has been quite the catch - in the opposite direction, of course, from the gambling of its businesses. The various Coral entities have had a number of owners over the years, each of whom would rather make money by providing gambling entertainment to their customers. Indeed, the story of Coral, or rather the companies that go by the name of Coral, is an all too familiar tale in recent British business. Some would argue that the rent for living this particular business model in Britain isn't all that high. If profit is the object, then living it in Britain seems a pretty good prospect. Indeed, Coral's story can serve as a pretty good skeleton around which to write a history of this particular branch of British business.

In 1926, Joe placed his first bets as a bookmaker, specializing in the local horseracing scene. He remained in the realm of small-time bookmaking until 1961, when British law changed to legalize proper betting shops. In the same year he opened his first shop, effectively founding the Coral Group.

The first shop was successful and quickly expanded. By 1962, Coral owned 23 betting shops across the UK. The company experienced a decade and a half of rapid expansion and by 1977, the Coral Group operated hundreds of betting shops. From this point on, Coral continued to grow by expanding into bingo shops, casinos, hotels and leisure clubs.

In 1981, Bass plc acquired the Coral Group. Although Bass had its own chain of betting shops, the Coral name was retained and Coral's operations were integrated into Bass' existing betting business. Under Bass, Coral continued to acquire betting shops and grow in the same way as it had in the 1970s.

The Coral Group went through several changes of ownership during the 1990s and 2000s. It eventually merged with Gala, a company that had been buying up betting shops and bingo halls since the mid-1990s. Together they became Gala Coral. Throughout all of these changes, both Coral and Gala Coral continued to acquire more betting shops and bingo parlors.

Gala Coral is now one of the largest bookmakers in the UK, with 1800 betting shops in that country alone and many more in Europe. It operates 25 land-based casinos in the UK and another 300 betting shops in Italy, which, like most places, should provide a steady stream of betting to Gala's bottom line.

Gala Coral Website

Gala Coral suffered from a pronounced identity crisis in the early years of its online operations. The company managed several online properties - including Gala and Coral Eurobet - but did not present a consistent, single brand identity. All of this was resolved in 2011 when the company established Gala Interactive as the online arm of the Gala Coral Group. This new entity has a clear brand identity that it uses across all of its online properties.

Gala Interactive merged its various online presences into a few major gambling sites. They now operate the following websites:

• Coral.co.uk;
• Galabingo.com;
• Galacasino.com;
• Eurobet.it (sito di gioco d'azzardo italiano).

Gala Coral currently employs over 16,000 people in its betting shops and offices around the world. The company operates under three main divisions. Gala Interactive oversees the company's online gambling operations, which include the kind of internet betting that has made companies such as Betfair so successful. Gala Gaming manages the company's land-based casinos, bingo parlors and other venues where gambling games can be played. Gala Retail operates the betting shops in the United Kingdom and Italy.

Gala Coral is still a private company, but it has signaled that it may go public in the next few years. Even though it's not public, Coral releases public financial information. And the news is pretty good. Last year, all of its operations made more than £200 million in gross profit.

Charity

Gala Coral has a charity department that works with local groups to raise money and donate time for positive causes. Employees routinely participate in local projects, while Gala Coral itself often donates money to other charitable organizations.

In recent years, Gala Coral employees have chosen to direct a large portion of their donations to Sue Ryder Care. They consistently raise an impressive amount of money in a variety of ways, one of the most popular being sponsored events. These events often take the form of mild to intense physical challenges. In 2009, a group of Gala Coral employees climbed to Everest Base Camp to hold a bingo game. Not just any bingo game, this was the world's highest ever bingo game, played at nearly 18,000 feet above sea level.