Irish bookmaker Boylesports has announced plans to open its first retail shop in the UK in 2019.
The bookmaker, which already owns a valid UK gambling license, runs over 200 licensed betting shop and is one of Ireland’s most popular high-street bookmakers alongside Ladbrokes and Paddy Power.
This week, the firm revealed plans to enter the UK market in the first quarter of 2019 and is in talks to buy betting shops from rival companies.
Boylesports anticipates that at least one UK retail deal will be finalised and promises to open its first betting shop by the end of March 2019.
Lawrence Lyons, a spokesman for Boylesports, said: “Boylespots can confirm that it is in advanced talks with a number of groups in the UK with a view to having a high-street presence in the first quarter of 2019.”
Boylesports has been planning on entering the UK for quite some time. Back in 2016, the firm lost a bid to Betfred to buy over 300 UK betting shops that were being sold by Ladbrokes and Coral due to their merger.
Then, in April this year, Conor Gray, the Boylesports CEO, said in a statement that the company still had plans to expand in the United Kingdom.
He said: “It is still an ambition because our data, our history, will tell you if you have a retail presence, it will help your digital business, and vice versa.
“So we have an ambition to be in the UK,” he said.
