Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is advising alongside US firms Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, White & Case and Paul Weiss Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison on the $4.7bn (£3.4bn) sale of UK-based Sky Betting & Gaming to Canadian betting company Stars Group.

Sky Betting and Gaming, better known as Sky Bet, is majority owned by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners and operates online brands including Sky Casino, Sky Poker and Sky Bingo.

Toronto-headquartered Stars Group, which owns online poker platform PokerStars, has agreed terms to purchase the company.

Freshfields is advising longstanding client CVC and Sky Bet on the sale, fielding a team including London corporate partners Tim Wilmot and Christopher Mort, antitrust partner Alastair Chapman and US based co-head of global financial institutions Valerie Jacob.

Canadian firm Stikeman Elliott is advising alongside the magic circle firm.

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is advising parent company Sky on the sale of its 20% stake in Sky Bet, with a team including corporate partners Mark Bardell and John Taylor, competition partner Andre Pretorius and intellectual property partner Joel Smith. Bardell led the HSF team that advised on on Sky Bet's sale to CVC in 2014.

Stars Group is being advised on corporate matters by Gibson Dunn, with a City team led by London corporate chair Charlie Geffen and private equity partner Jonathan Earle.

White & Case, which counts CVC as one of its key private equity clients in London, is advising CVC and Sky Bet on finance matters with a London team comprising banking partner Justin Wagstaff and finance partner Martin Forbes.

Paul Weiss, meanwhile, is advising Stars Group on debt financing for the transaction.

Other recent major deals in the gambling sector have included GVC Holdings' £4bn acquisition of Ladbrokes Coral, with Addleshaw Goddard, Ashurst and Jones Day among the line-up of law firms advising.