The proposed merger of UK gambling giants Ladbrokes and Gala Coral Group may have hit a snag over how many retail betting shops the companies will be forced to sell.

The UK’s Competition Markets Authority (CMA) was expected to issue a provisional decision by April 18 on whether to permit the £2.3b Lads-Coral merger to proceed. On Thursday, City AM quoted sources saying that this timeline was now ‘highly unlikely.”

While the CMA’s final ruling on the merger is still expected to be released on June 24, City AM’s source claimed a potential hiccup had arisen over how many of the two operators’ combined 4k betting shops would need to be sold off to address competition concerns.

Scuttlebutt had it that the two operators would be required to reduce their retail presence by between 300 and 500 shops, but City AM claimed the CMA may require as many as 1k shops to be sold to smaller betting operators to ensure a healthy and competitive market for retail punters.