LONDON: Gambling group 888 on Thursday said it had agreed to buy the non-US operations of rival William Hill in a deal aimed at creating a leading online betting group. US group Caesars Entertainment has agreed to the sale in a deal worth £2.2 billion ($3.0 billion, 2.6 billion euros), a statement said.

Caesars had bought all of William Hill, which has more than 1,400 betting shops in the UK, for around £3.0 billion last year but said at the time that it was interested in holding onto only the US part of the business. Itai Pazner, chief executive of UK firm 888, said its purchase "will create one of the world's leading online betting and gaming groups with superior scale".