Ladbrokes Claimed ₤ 102m Furlough Despite Online Boost

Ladbrokes claimed ₤ 102m furlough in spite of online boost

7 January 2022

ByBen King
Business reporter, BBC News

Bookmaker Ladbrokes claimed ₤ 102m from the furlough plan, despite fast growth in online wagering making up for all losses from the closure of shops.

Accounts released on Thursday reveal that Ladbrokes claimed ₤ 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 incomes, driven by strong online development.

Entain stated the cash safeguarded 14,000 jobs, and is "under review."

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The biggest claimers from the furlough scheme were primarily those for whom Covid lockdowns implied high falls in earnings - airline companies, bar companies, leisure groups, stores, dining establishments and catering services.

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

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

Its parent business, FTSE 100-listed video gaming giant Entain, has a big online gambling service, and clients who couldn't bet in stores throughout the dark days of lockdown gathered to sites and apps instead.

Last April's Grand National broke the record for the biggest online sports betting event in the UK.

This indicated that regardless of lockdowns, Entain's 2020 incomes were the same from the year before at ₤ 3.6 bn, and it even handled to tape an earnings of ₤ 114m. In the very first 9 months of 2021 earnings grew 8%.

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

₤ 102m furlough claim

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

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

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

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

A representative for Entain said: "The furlough scheme was a practical and extremely bet9ja's welcome offer policy intervention that helped us, as one of the country's largest sellers, to keep the yohaig code incomes of more than 14,000 retail associates on full pay.

"Whilst the infection is still with us and the outlook, although improving, is still far from specific, the Board will continue to keep the circumstance under review."

Entain is legally entitled to declare the cash, and there is no tip that it did anything incorrect in making the yohaig code claim or keeping the cash.

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

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

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

A variety of companies in other industries opted to return furlough funds when the impact of the pandemic proved less extreme than at first feared - including housebuilders Redrow, Barratt and Taylor Wimpey, Games Workshop, and circulation huge Bunzl.

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

Betfred claimed a minimum of ₤ 46.6 m in furlough

Betfred, which operates 1500 wagering shops, likewise made considerable furlough claims in spite of rising revenues.

It declared ₤ 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, claimed somewhere in between ₤ 18.5 m and ₤ 37.5 m from Dec 2020 to May 2021, according to HMRC information (which just offers a variety, not a particular figure).

The total for the group adds up to between ₤ 46.6 m and ₤ 65.6 m, though these figures do not consist of 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 forced its stores to close.

However the group still made substantial earnings, up from ₤ 171m to ₤ 205m, raised by some one-off gains including ₤ 98m arising from an effective lawsuit versus HMRC for VAT paid on fixed-odds wagering terminals from 2005 to 2013.

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