That’s rich

After making £200m profits, William Hill puts 4,500 jobs at risk... and blames war on ‘crack cocaine’ betting machines

BOOKMAKER William Hill has announced it will close hundreds of betting shops across the country, putting 4,500 jobs at risk.

The firm, which made £200million in profit last year, said it was forced into the closures after a clampdown on ‘crack cocaine’ gambling machines.

At the start of April, the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) was cut from £100 to £2 as part of a drive to tackle problem gambling following a Daily Mail campaign.

William Hill said this had hit its takings and announced plans to close 700 shops, with the first expected to shut their doors by the end of the year.

This was less than the 900 branches it had previously claimed would have to be shut in response to the new betting machine rules.

The bookmaker, which employs 1,500 people in 300 shops in Scotland, has estimated that the policy could cost it between £70million and £100million. GVC, which owns Ladbrokes Coral, has separately said up to 1,000 of its betting shops could be closed due to the crackdown.

However, critics said the closures were the result of gambling companies failing to protect customers addicted to betting.

William Hill’s annual report has shown that the firm made £200million in profit last year and it has paid boss Philip Bowcock nearly £3million over the past three years. Adam Bradford, of Safer Online Gambling, said: ‘This move was long in coming for the betting industry, who failed to protect addicts and clean up their act.

‘Betting machines have caused misery and now punters will make their move into the growing area of online betting. For the industry to remain sustainable, the online firms need to implement their own spending checks and affordability limits online quickly to prevent a similar crackdown. These jobs were going to go and at least represent a decline in the misery of betting on the high street.’

He added: ‘Perhaps William Hill can deploy its staff into treating addicts and supporting those who are vulnerable across their other betting outlets.’

Former Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop, operations director of the Community union, said: ‘The Government also has a role to play and must look at what support they can offer to workers whose jobs are threatened.

‘Workers do not deserve to be the victims of the changes happening in the industry as a result of either government policy or the significant shift towards online gambling.’

William Hill said it was too early to confirm which sites will shut.

The company, which has 16,000 employees and more than 2,300 shops, said it would offer voluntary redundancies to some staff and move others to different parts of its business where possible.

On its store closure plans, the group said: ‘This follows the Government’s decision to reduce the maximum stake on [FOBTs] to £2 on April 1. Since then the company has seen a significant fall in gaming machine revenues.’

There were 32,956 FOBTs in Britain in November 2018, according to the Gambling Commission, generating £1.7billion annually.

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