Bingo operator Gala Coral has been named the biggest private company in Britain by The Sunday Times, with annual sales of £7.4bn and an operating profit of £242m.

Gala Coral has more than 17,000 employees working at 1,400 betting shops, 31 casinos and 173 bingo clubs.

Gala merged with bookmaker Coral Eurobet last October in a £2.18bn deal. Its main shareholders are private equity companies Candover, Cinven and Permira with 27.3 per cent each and management taking the remainder.

The list, compiled by consultants KPMG, also featured two other gaming companies, Betfret and Bet365 at numbers 43 and 56 respectively.

Other leisure companies included were caravan park operator Bourne Leisure Holdings (No. 45) and Odeon & UCI Cinema Group (No. 78). Details: www.galagroup.co.uk