Ladbrokes In New Casinos Deal With Hilton Hotel Chain

Ladbrokes will continue to set up casinos in Hilton hotels after parent company Hilton Group sells the hotels. The prospect of continued strong links between the two brands was confirmed over Christmas when Ladbrokes applied for permission to set up a 1,000-square metre casino at the Brighton Metropole, part of the Hilton chain.

The application came just as Hilton Group was finalising the sale of its hotels business to America's Hilton Hotels Corporation. Under the deal, confirmed last week, Hilton Group is selling its 416 hotels to the US company for £3.7 billion. The deal will reunite the Hilton name, which split in 1964, leaving the American company running Hilton hotels in the US and the British company operating the brand in the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, the Hilton Group will be renamed Ladbrokes and will focus on its betting shops and casinos business.

The application for a UK casino licence at the Brighton Metropole went up for public consultation over the Christmas holiday.

A spokesman for Ladbrokes said that the company had a similar application in place for a casino at the Hyde Park Hilton in central London. "These are contracts that will remain after the hotels deal. We will look at opportunities to work together and I expect Hilton to be Ladbrokes' preferred hotels partner," said the spokesman.