Ladbrokes Closes Another 50 UK Betting Shops

Ladbrokes – one of the biggest high street sports betting outlets in the United Kingdom – have closed down another 50 of their shops in the country, following poor figures. Ladbrokes is due to announce its fourth quarter report and the stats for the 2014 financial year on Thursday, after which they are set to close a further 50 shops.

More Shop Closures

Ladbrokes had already announced earlier in the year that a total of around 90 outlets were set to face the chop. Throw another fifty shops on top of that list, and you might be wondering if Ladbrokes are going to have any high street outlets left open? Ladbrokes will still have over 2,150 shops in operation, though, for the moment at least.

Reasons

Many believe the new closures are to do with the new Machine Games Duty, which begins on March 1. The new tax rate will be bumped to 25% (from an already existing 20%), for all fixed odds betting terminals in the country. William Hill has also been feeling the pinch of this new move, as well as others by the government. They closed down over 100 outlets last spring.

Not Wanted

The move comes at a time when many local councils are trying to obtain new powers which will allow them to block the opening of new betting shops in the area. The bookmakers are also struggling when it comes to the Online Consumption Tax, which was introduced on December 1, as a further 15% duty on gambling. With so much working against the betting shops and bookmakers, the outcome is likely to be the same as that which forced so many bingo halls to close in the last decade.