GVC Holdings, owner and operator of Ladbrokes and Coral, confirms closure of 900 UK betting shops in response to government regulations.

In another body blow for the UK’s betting industry, GVC Holdings, owner and operator of Ladbrokes and Coral, has confirmed it plans to close 900 betting shops across the UK.

Just last week, William Hill confirmed plans to close 700 of its UK betting shops by the end of the year (read more), placing the blame firmly at the door of the government.

GVC had previously announced they were considering closing somewhere in the region of a thousand shops in reaction to the 98% reduction in maximum wagers on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs).

In a statement GVC said:

“We now expect up to 900 shops to be at risk of closure, affecting up to 5,000 roles, over the next two years as a result of the reduction in maximum stakes on FOBTs to £2 that came into force on 1st April, and there are a number of shops that have been identified for closure as part of this process.

“This is not a decision we are taking lightly, and we will be working hard to minimize the number of redundancies through redeployment within the business while offering redundancy terms enhanced beyond the statutory requirement,”

AYO.NEWS says:

The FOBT regulations were always expected by many to hammer the final nail into the coffin of the UK high street betting shop, so these announcements aren’t a surprise. More concerning for the industry as a whole is that, as more gamblers turn to online operators, the attention of the anti-gambling crusaders in the UKGC, ASA, popular media and political arena, will follow suit.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.