Ladbrokes Claimed ₤ 102m Furlough Despite Online Boost

Ladbrokes declared ₤ 102m furlough despite online increase

7 January 2022

ByBen King
Business reporter, BBC News

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Bookmaker Ladbrokes claimed ₤ 102m from the yohaig code furlough scheme, in spite of fast development in online betting making up for all losses from the closure of shops.

Accounts released on Thursday show that Ladbrokes declared ₤ 57.5 m in 2020, and the BBC understands it declared a more ₤ 44m this promotion code year.

Since the pandemic began parent business Entain has actually increased revenues, driven by strong online development.

Entain said the cash protected 14,000 tasks, and is "under evaluation."

The greatest claimers from the furlough plan were mainly those for whom Covid lockdowns implied steep falls in earnings - airlines, bar companies, leisure groups, stores, dining establishments and caterers.

One business stands apart in the list - Ladbrokes, the UK's biggest operator of betting stores, with 2,845 facilities branded Ladbrokes or Coral.

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

Its moms and dad business, FTSE 100-listed video gaming giant Entain, has a big online gaming service, and clients who could not bet in stores during the yohaig code dark days of lockdown gathered to websites and apps instead.

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

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

Entain is also well positioned to benefit from the explosive development of online wagering in the US through its BetMGM joint venture.

₤ 102m furlough claim

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

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

the yohaig code BBC understands the company claimed around ₤ 44m in 2021, taking the total to ₤ 102m.

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

A representative for Entain said: "The furlough plan was a sensible and highly welcome policy intervention that helped us, as one of the nation's largest sellers, to keep the incomes of more than 14,000 retail coworkers on full pay.

"Whilst the infection is still with us and the outlook, although enhancing, is still far from certain, the Board will continue to keep the situation under review."

Entain is legally entitled to claim the money, and there is no tip that it did anything wrong in making the claim or keeping the cash.

However rival bookmaker William Hill opted to return ₤ 24.5 m of furlough cash in August 2020, mentioning the yohaig code "strength of the post-lockdown healing."

Iain Duncan Smith MP, the vice chair of the Gambling Related Harm All Party Parliamentary Group, said: "The greed of these business, that derive vast benefit from addicted gamblers, continues to impress.

"Any company with a clear sense of morality would immediately hand this money back to the UK taxpayer."

A number of business in other markets chose to return furlough funds when the yohaig code effect of the pandemic showed less extreme than at first feared - including housebuilders Redrow, Barratt and Taylor Wimpey, Games Workshop, and distribution huge Bunzl.

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

Betfred declared a minimum of ₤ 46.6 m in furlough

Betfred, which runs 1500 betting shops, likewise made substantial furlough claims despite increasing revenues.

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

In addition, a Betfred subsidiary business, Done Brothers (Cash Betting) Ltd, declared someplace between ₤ 18.5 m and ₤ 37.5 m from Dec 2020 to May 2021, according to HMRC data (which just offers a variety, not a specific figure).

The total for the yohaig code group amounts to between ₤ 46.6 m and ₤ 65.6 m, though these figures do not include any claims it may have made in October and November 2020.

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

However the group still made significant profits, up from ₤ 171m to ₤ 205m, lifted 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 representative said: "Thanks to the Government's Job Retention [furlough] Scheme we have not had to make a single redundancy due to the pandemic and we will continue to purchase our shops on the high street."

Coronavirus lockdown procedures

Job Retention Scheme