Ladbrokes-Coral website would be third most visited sports gambling site in the UK
Ladbrokes and Gala Coral are set to have the UK's third biggest sports gambling website if the merger between the gambling majors goes through.
Ladbrokes was the fourth most popular UK site for monthly combined mobile and desktop visits in 2015, and would gain the online traffic of sixth-placed Coral if the merger goes through, according to new research from digital market intelligence firm SimilarWeb.
Combining the mobile and desktop traffic would put Ladbrokes-Coral on 22m average monthly online visits, based on last year’s traffic figures, which would be enough to overtake Skybet in third place.
The UK's top sportsbook betting websites
| Website | Average visits 2015 |
| bet365.com | 38.1m |
| williamhill.com | 23.3m |
| skybet.com | 15.4m |
| ladbrokes.com | 15.1m |
| betfred.com | 9m |
| coral.co.uk | 7m |
| paddypower.com | 6.2m |
| betfair.com | 3.1m |
| 10bet.co.uk | 2.1m |
| betvictor.com | 560,000 |
However on current figures, the merger would not be enough to unseat industry leader Bet365, which achieved an average of 38m visits a month in 2015, or second-placed William Hill on 23.2m monthly visits to its site each month.
Read more: Ladbrokes reeling from "worst Cheltenham ever"
Bet365 has both the highest amount of online traffic and the best engagement with online customers, with an average user session lasting 11 minutes and 35 seconds, nearly three minutes longer than any of its rivals.
SimilarWeb has also found the top 10 sites saw average growth of 88 per cent year on year between 2014 and 2015, demonstrating the importance of growth digitally in the sector. Ladbrokes and Gala Coral have previously said a key driver of the merger is a "compelling strategy to accelerate online growth".
The study found that the sports betting industry sees one quarter of all weekly online visits on Saturdays, when most major sporting events take place.
Read more: Gala Coral earnings up ahead of proposed Ladbrokes merger
Mobile engagement emerged as another key trend, according to SimilarWeb, which found the share of mobile traffic across the online gambling sector in the UK last year rose to 50 per cent, compared to only 35 per cent in 2014.
Ladbrokes-Gala Coral merger
The merger between Ladbrokes and Gala Coral, which was confirmed in a £2.3bn deal last July, would create the UK's largest bookmaker, even though it will be the third largest website.
The new company will be called Ladbrokes Coral.
Last week, the Competition and Markets Authority suggested Ladbrokes' takeover of Gala Coral was nearing the final furlong, after it published its provisional decision saying that up to 400 branches might have to be disposed of to smaller high street competitors for the deal to close.