UK-listed bookies Ladbrokes saw their shares jump on Thursday as rumors spread that rival Paddy Power was mulling a takeover bid.

On Wednesday, the Daily Mail’s This Is Money offshoot reported that 25.5m Ladbrokes shares had changed hands, which the paper claimed was Paddy preparing the ground for a £1.6b bid for Ladbrokes. Neither company has yet seen fit to comment on the rumors.

Ladbrokes has struggled to match its peers’ online successes, leading new CEO Jim Mullen to promise an operational review report by June 30. In contrast, Paddy Power’s online arm is going great guns and the addition of Ladbrokes’ UK retail business would satisfy Paddy’s long held desire to expand its UK retail footprint.

The UK market has witnessed a flurry of merger and acquisition activity, including multiple offers for struggling online operator Bwin.party digital entertainment. The UK gov’t hasn’t made life easy for its betting industry with the new 15% online point-of-consumption tax, an increase in the Machine Games Duty and promises of a new Horserace Betting Right to replace the old Levy system.