Shareholders of UK-listed bookmaker Ladbrokes have approved the company’s proposed merger with rival betting operator Gala Coral Group.

Ladbrokes held a general meeting in London on Tuesday at which shareholders were asked to express their opinion on the proposed merger, which would create a betting Goliath expected to generate annual revenue of £2.3b. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor, with 96.36% of shareholders figuring, eh, why not.

That leaves only a favorable nod from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to seal the deal. The CMA is expected to compel Lads and Coral to sell off between 400 and 1,000 of their retail betting shops but other that that, the deal should be finalized by mid-2016.

Lads’ shareholders voted in favor of the merger despite the late intervention of Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond, who last week launched an online presentation urging Lads’ investors to ‘say no to Coral.’ Desmond argued that history had exposed Lads’ management as inept, but perhaps shareholders have more to fear from the Coral crowd.