GVC Ladbrokes Coral

GVC Pulls Ladbrokes & Coral from OddsChecker

Comparing odds before choosing where to place your bet is an integral part of the betting process for many punters, and Oddschecker is a site that allows them to do just that.

All of the big brands are on there, or at least they were until July 9th, because GVC have pulled three of their biggest brands from the site for ‘commercial reasons’.

By all accounts the door is open for their return, but why was this decision taken in the first place?

Ladbrokes, Coral, Betdaq

Oddschecker

Ladbrokes and Coral are two of the big 5 when it comes to betting companies in the UK, and Betdaq are arguably the biggest betting exchange after Betfair, so to lose all three of them must come as a financial blow to Oddschecker.

It will also make their service less complete as punters will not get as thorough an overview of available odds without them.

Oddschecker charges a monthly fee for brands to be listed on the site, and according to GVC:

“Sadly, we couldn’t agree commercial terms to renew the relationship, so as of the 9th July our UK Digital Brands will no longer feature on the service”

The monthly fee is based on the company’s size and position on the Oddschecker table, so it can be assumed the fee for these market leading brands would have been substantial. Not only that, there is also a revenue share deal in place, so the savings to GVC will be high.

But is there more to it?

My Theory

EinsteinCiting ‘commercial reasons’ is all very vague, and although there is doubtless truth to the statement – they will save a lot of money after all – I wonder if the decision in part comes down to market competition.

Oddschecker is now ultimately owned by Flutter Entertainment, the company that owns PaddyPower and Betfair, and is therefore one of GVC’s biggest competitors.

If GVC think their big brands can do just as well without putting money in the competition’s pockets then this would also make sense of the decision.

To back this up, Sportingbet, one of GVC’s smaller brands that is not as well known is still working with the odds comparison platform under a different contract.