By the end of the 1990s they owned 92 hotels and 27 casinos in the UK. The deal was declared a monopoly, and they were forced to sell, but they used the proceeds to purchase the Stakis hotel chain. They purchased City Clubs, which ran three casinos, and in 1997 they bought Coral.
In 1994 Ladbrokes returned to the Casino market.
As a result, by the 1980s, all Ladbrokes casino businesses were closed. Christensen engaged in many illegal practices to market the casinos, and in 1979 the Ladbrokes offices were raided by Police, and the renewal of the Casinos licenses was refused. Chairman Cyril Stein hired Danish Andreas Christensen to head their Marketing Division and increase their market share. Ladbrokes moved into the Casino market in the 1970s, and by 1977 Ladbrokes owned 3 London Casinos, responsible for around 27% of the British Casino market. By 1971 Ladbrokes owned and operated 660 betting shops in the UK. In the 19th Century, Ladbrokes started as a small agency that catered for taking horse racing bets from the British aristocracy.
