Bookmaker says it may axe 700 shops as it reviews operations to offset £820m loss from new rules
The bookmaker
William Hill could close 700 high street shops, putting 4,500 jobs at risk, as new restrictions on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) begin to hit its profits.
The firm had warned that it could shut 900 shops after reporting a loss of £820m in the first six months of the year following the decision to slash maximum stakes on FOBTs from £100 to £2.
It is now pressing ahead with a consultation on whether to cut the size of its store network as the loss of FOBTs makes it harder to mitigate the effect of customers migrating to online gambling sites, including its own. It expects to start shutting shops by the end of the year.
“This follows the government’s decision to reduce the maximum stake on B2 gaming products to £2 on 1 April 2019,” it said in a statement.
“Since then the company has seen a significant fall in gaming machine revenues, in line with the guidance given when the government’s decision was announced in May 2018.”
Several bookmakers, including Ladbrokes, have predicted that the size of their high street network will shrink, resulting in job losses, in the aftermath of the FOBT decision.
The machines were branded a “social blight” by the government after a lengthy review, during which bookmakers vehemently resisted any cut in FOBT stakes, only to see them reduced to the lowest possible level of £2.
The low stake effectively rendered the machines, which account for more than half of high street bookmakers’ revenues, uneconomical.