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Ladbrokes came into being in 1886 when commissioning agents Messrs Swind and Pennington started the company on behalf of Ladbroke Hall in Worcestershire. Always the 'bookies' of choice for the upper classes the operation moved to London’s West End and then onto Mayfair in 1902 under the guidance of Arthur Bendir who coined the name Ladbrokes. Surprisingly the early driving force behind the company was a woman a Mrs. Helen Vernet who joined at the request of Arthur Bendir in 1919, later becoming a partner in 1928. Mrs. Vernet stayed at the helm until 1956 when at the age of 80 she died. At, this time, the clientele was drawn from the aristocracy and elite gentleman’s clubs based in the St James’ area of London. However, the second World War had taken its toll this and an unwillingness to adapt lead to the sale of Ladbrokes to Mark Stein who passed it on to his nephew Cyril.

With the advent of the ‘Betting and Gaming’ act in 1961, Stein was able to establish a chain of betting shops however, disaster struck in 1963 when football results cost the company 1 million.

In 1972, Ladbrokes moved into international property development with the acquisition of the London and Leeds Development Corporation making them one of the biggest hotel operators. The empire extended in 1984 with the purchase of 400 betting shops in Belgium from Le Tiercé SA and the Detroit Race Track in the US. Soon to follow was the purchase of Hilton International and Texas Homecare securing its place as a force within the marketplace. The end of the 80’s saw the Ladbrokes take over of the football pools company Vernon. At this time due to changes in the law Ladbrokes betting shops were improved with customer comfort in mind serving light refreshments and offering live coverage of events. At the end of the decade, Ladbrokes saw record profits of more than £300 million which marked 20 years of unbroken profit growth. With the advent of the 90’s Ladbrokes momentum showed no signs of slowing down with the opening in Birmingham of the biggest betting shop in Europe.

The company continued to evolve and when in 2005 the UK gambling laws were further relaxed Ladbrokes launched a TV Ad campaign using ex-professional footballers. A string of complaints followed before it was finally passed by the Advertising Standards Agency. Vernons was sold this year for a whopping £47million. In 2007, operations were extended to Spain partnering with LBA and later CISA which saw the launch of the online gaming site ‘Sportium’. In 2009, the company shed 263 jobs when the call centre at Aintree was closed due to offshore competition and falling profits. In 2013, the company moved into the Australian market. As of 2015 Ladbrokes brokered a deal to merge with Gala Coral making it the UK’s biggest book Makers with 4,000 betting shops and 30,000 employees.

Despite teething problems the company now boasts a strong digital presence and has business interests in UK and European retail. Customers can access gaming wherever they are it at the track, at home via the telephone, while out and about on a mobile device using their many apps, for iOS, Windows, or Android and online. Ladbrokes shops offer live streaming of events and in-play betting not to mention virtual sports covering all the main sporting areas. They have a wide selection of online and mobile games designed to attract all types of customer such as Slot, Keno, and scratch cards and for those looking for bigger stakes, there is a special telephone service for the high rollers.