Gaming machines the elephant in the room for bookmaking giants

The early signs for Ladbrokes Coral as a merged company look promising going by Tuesday's results announcement, but there remains an elephant in the room.

Analysts of the sector gave the company's figures a largely favourable reception and yet the share price fell.

The bookmaker did post a loss, but that was down to the costs of the merger and will not have been a surprise given Paddy Power Betfair and GVC Holdings had reported similar impacts in recent weeks.