Ladbrokes Claimed ₤ 102m Furlough Despite Online Boost

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Ladbrokes claimed ₤ 102m furlough regardless of online boost

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Ladbrokes claimed ₤ 102m furlough despite online boost

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7 January 2022

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ByBen King
Business press reporter, BBC News


Bookmaker Ladbrokes claimed ₤ 102m from the furlough scheme, in spite of rapid growth in online wagering offseting all losses from the closure of shops.


Accounts published on Thursday show that Ladbrokes claimed ₤ 57.5 m in 2020, and the BBC understands it claimed an additional ₤ 44m this year.


Since the pandemic began parent business Entain has in fact increased profits, driven by strong online growth.


Entain said the yohaig code cash protected 14,000 jobs, and is "under evaluation."


The biggest claimers from the furlough plan were mostly those for whom Covid lockdowns meant high falls in revenue - airline companies, bar business, leisure groups, shops, restaurants and catering services.


One company sticks out in the list - Ladbrokes, the UK's biggest operator of wagering shops, with 2,845 facilities branded Ladbrokes or Coral.


For though it needed to close them for large parts of 2020 and 2021, it had a lifeline - online.


Its parent company, FTSE 100-listed video gaming giant Entain, has a huge online gambling company, and customers who couldn't wager in shops during the dark days of lockdown gathered to websites and apps rather.


Last April's Grand National broke the record for the greatest online sports wagering occasion in the UK.


this promotion code meant that regardless of lockdowns, Entain's 2020 earnings were the same from the year before at ₤ 3.6 bn, and it even managed to record an earnings of ₤ 114m. In the very first 9 months of 2021 earnings grew 8%.


Entain is likewise well placed to gain from the explosive development of online wagering in the US through its BetMGM joint endeavor.


₤ 102m furlough claim


Despite a strong financial efficiency, Ladbrokes made a big furlough claim.


Accounts for Ladbrokes Gaming and Betting Ltd, a subsidiary company of Entain, submitted with Companies House and published on Thursday reveal that it claimed ₤ 57.5 m of furlough in 2020.


The BBC comprehends the business claimed around ₤ 44m in 2021, taking the total to ₤ 102m.


According to BBC analysis of data published by HMRC, that would be one of the 20 greatest furlough claims for 2021.


A spokesperson for Entain stated: "The furlough scheme was a reasonable and highly bet9ja's welcome offer policy intervention that assisted us, as one of the nation's biggest merchants, to keep the incomes of more than 14,000 retail colleagues on complete pay.


"Whilst the virus is still with us and the outlook, although improving, is still far from particular, the Board will continue to keep the situation under evaluation."


Entain is lawfully entitled to declare the cash, and there is no idea that it did anything incorrect in making the claim or retaining the cash.


However competing bookmaker William Hill opted to return ₤ 24.5 m of furlough money in August 2020, pointing out the yohaig code "strength of the post-lockdown recovery."


Iain Duncan Smith MP, the vice chair of the Gambling Related Harm All Party Parliamentary Group, said: "The greed of these business, that obtain large earnings from addicted bettors, continues to impress.

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"Any business with a clear sense of morality would right away hand this promotion code cash back to the UK taxpayer."


A number of business in other industries chose to return furlough funds when the effect of the pandemic proved less extreme than at first feared - consisting of housebuilders Redrow, Barratt and Taylor Wimpey, Games Workshop, and circulation giant Bunzl.

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Flutter, owner of the Paddy Power wagering shops, did not tap the furlough plan at all.


Betfred declared at least ₤ 46.6 m in furlough


Betfred, which operates 1500 wagering shops, also made considerable furlough claims despite increasing earnings.


It claimed ₤ 28.1 m in furlough the year ending 27 Sep 2020, according to business accounts.


In addition, a Betfred subsidiary company, Done Brothers (Cash Betting) Ltd, claimed someplace in between ₤ 18.5 m and ₤ 37.5 m from Dec 2020 to May 2021, according to HMRC data (which just provides a range, not a specific figure).


The total for the group amounts to between ₤ 46.6 m and ₤ 65.6 m, though these figures don't include any claims it might have made in October and November 2020.


Betfred Group saw turnover fall from ₤ 621m to ₤ 525m in the year ending 27 September 2020, the most recent figures offered, as lockdowns required its shops to close.


However the group still made considerable profits, up from ₤ 171m to ₤ 205m, raised by some one-off gains consisting of ₤ 98m resulting from a successful court case versus HMRC for VAT paid on fixed-odds betting terminals from 2005 to 2013.


A Betfred spokesman stated: "Thanks to the Government's Job Retention [furlough] Scheme we have actually not had to make a single redundancy due to the pandemic and we will continue to buy our stores on the high street."


Coronavirus lockdown measures


Job Retention Scheme

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