The Gala Group – headquartered in Nottingham - is the leading high volume, low stake retailing gaming group in the UK. The Gala Group was founded in 1997 following a management buy-in from Bass. In the following two years Gala acquired four bingo chains. In December 2000, Gala acquired Ladbroke Casinos from the Hilton Group Plc. The casinos have been rebranded Gala Casinos. Gala has 10,000 employees in the UK. Since 1997 Gala has grown the business significantly. In 1997 Gala was worth £285m and in 2000, £400m. In 2003 the UK company, Candover and Cinven, bought the business for £1.28billion. Gala has 28 casinos in the UK – plus one in the Isle of Man and one in Gibraltar.