If the trend continues, British bookmakers may become an endangered species. More than 1,000 betting shops have closed since April. The shops have gone out of business at a rate of four a day, according to an analysis by The Mail.
Betfred founder, Fred Done, said bookmakers had been left “fighting for their lives” thanks to a government crackdown on addictive betting machines, said a story in This is Money. New laws aimed at the nation’s gambling epidemic cut down the amount bettors can wager at fixed odds betting terminals from £100 (US$128.63) to £2, wiping as much as 60 per cent off betting shop profits.
Data showed bookies have shuttered 1,017 shops, and they expect 982 more to close by 2021. If accurate, almost 2,000 of Britain’s 8,423 bricks-and mortar outlets will have closed within a three-year period, changing the face of high streets across the country.
Of course, the closures will be welcomed by those who see bookies as a blight on communities. But it could lead to a cut of 11,000 jobs, or 10 percent of the gambling industry workforce.
“We are fighting for our lives. When Mothercare closed there was lots of sympathy for the people who lost their jobs. But I haven’t heard a single politician show sympathy for anyone out of work in the betting industry. We don’t matter to the government,” Done said.
The malaise has hit the entire industry, from GVC, which owns Ladbrokes Coral, to family-run independents such as Essex-based Jenningsbet, which has closed 13 of its 95 shops and cut 44 jobs since April. Family-run Megabet, near Newcastle, closed 45 of its betting shops in July.
In the same month, Scotland’s biggest independent bookmaker, Scotbet, went into receivership, calling the government’s intervention “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
The greatest losses are expected at three of the high street giants. Ladbrokes Coral, William Hill and Betfred are on course to close up to 1,930 shops in total, potentially affecting 11,350 jobs. William Hill has already closed around 700 high street shops.
GVC Holdings, which bought Ladbrokes Coral in a £4 billion (US$5.14 billion) deal last year, has shut 198 high street shops, and said up to 702 more will close by April, 2021. Betfred lobbied the government last year to try to thwart the FOBT crackdown, accusing ministers of “playing politics with people’s jobs.”
It has shut 50 high street shops since April and Fred Done said last night up to another 280 could close over the next two years, putting 1,850 jobs under threat.
The government said low-income Britons lose £1.8 billion (US$2.32 billion) a year. But Greg Knight, managing director of Jenningsbet, said gamblers have “migrated to other forms of less well-regulated gambling” such as amusement arcades, known as adult gaming centers. “Amusement arcades are far less evolved in terms of harm prevention and yet they are now booming.”
Jenningsbet has lobbied for a tax relief system for small and medium-sized retail betting firms, similar to the relief given to small breweries, but to no avail, Knight said.
High street bookmakers have also been hit by the shift to online betting, which now accounts for 39 per cent of Britain’s £14.5 billion (US$18.7 billion) annual gambling revenues. Paddy Power Betfair, where online sales account for 82 per cent of global revenues, is the only major UK bookmaker that will not close shops. Parent company Flutter Entertainment is expected to complete a £10 billion merger with Canada’s The Stars Group next year.
