Newly combined UK betting powerhouse Ladbrokes Coral is reportedly making a play to acquire Australian betting operator Tabcorp Holdings.

The Mail on Sunday issued a report this weekend claiming that Ladbrokes Coral were planning a “multi-billion pound bid” to acquire the Australian operator. Lads-Coral is said to have appointed advisers over the last few weeks – likely the minute the UK competition watchdog formally approved their own merger – to develop a proposal to submit to Tabcorp stakeholders.

Ladbrokes and Tabcorp have been down this road before. In January, Australian media reported that Lads had made similar acquisition overtures in late 2013 but Tabcorp CEO David Attenborough, himself a former Ladbrokes exec, was said to have rebuffed these advances without too much consideration.

Tabcorp is in the middle of its own proposed merger with Aussie betting and lottery giant Tatts Group but Lads-Coral reportedly has no interest in acquiring Tatts’ operations. A source told The Mail that Lads-Coral’s plan is to submit their takeover bid before Tabcorp stakeholders can weigh in on the proposed Tabcorp-Tatts union.