100 shops under risk of closure even as Ladbrokes sales soar
Information coming from the owner of the famed gambling platform Casino Ladbrokes has revealed that the company experienced a massive increase in the volume of sales within the last year, but that there is also the plan to close down up to 1000 betting shops because of a clampdown on gambling activities.
From the beginning of the coming month, the fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) can only access a maximum of £2 in bets for each spin, and this is all geared towards reducing the dangers of gambling problems. However, there have been some warnings from experts in the field that this may not be the best solution, because it will push gambling enthusiasts to rather engage in other types of betting if the law is enforced in online betting.
According to GVC, by 2019, this £2 would have accrued up to £135m, and this is because they aim to change into an estate that is sustainable and right served in a very seamless manner. Talking about the GVC, the chef executive named Kenneth Alexander posited that they are in the right position to manage the effects of this new rule. The company is an Isle of Man based firm, and in March this year, they absorbed the Ladbrokes Coral. The effects of the deal propelled their revenue from £790m in the past year to £2.8bn.
In 2018, the company lost about £18.9m before task, which is lesser than the £22.6m they posted in 2017. However, there was a rise in the profit before tax from £151m to £434.6m. This is coming after there was a fall in the fortunes of the William Hill gaming, and they later accused the £2 maximum stake law to be the cause of this. It was gathered from the William Hill group that in 2018, they encountered a loss of £722m against the previous year when they gained £147m. There was a 2 percent revenue increase from the £1.59bn of the previous year to £1.62bn for the present year. However, the alterations in the stake level is one that William Hill and Ladbrokes Coral are cushioned against, because each of the firms in question can boast of thousands of betting machines scattered all over the country.
But the news making the rounds is that they are looking at the best way to exploit the deregulation that is currently existent in the United States where states are now authorized to make sports betting legal. In the not too distant past, a contract was signed between the GVC and the MGM Resorts casino firm in America, and the contract is worth up to $200m (£150m).
The man in charge of analyzing equity at the Hargreaves Lansdown says that the group’s business in the online sector will remain its trump card. The regulation in the web division entails that GVC will be in a better position to cushion the effect of the regulation in stake level, and still register good figures of growth in the years ahead. According to Mr. Salmon, the benefits of the proposal are things they've seen in the long run, especially now that deal with the US firm’s is underway to curtail the effects of this.
He also went ahead to say that they cannot vouch that the deal with the US firm will bring fortunes, and the effects of the regulations will actually still be a problem to solve. With the level of debts involved in the Ladbrokes contract, it will bring more strain on the balance sheet of the firm on the long run, should the changes by the government prevail.