Bookmaker News _ Ladbrokes Spokesman Endorses William Hill Fears

Ladbrokes‘ PR officer Ciaran O’Brien has been showing some solidarity with traditional market rivals William Hill this week, echoing the comments made by William Hill chief executive Ralph Topping about the rumoured moves to increase tax on betting turnover. Topping told a leading newspaper that any raising of the percentage that high street firms have to pay in duty could lead to wholesale closures among betting offices, with more than a thousand already at risk due to a general fall in the number of bets being wagered by punters coming in off the street and the fact that the average stake per slip is also on the decline. William Hill have recently released their financial results for 2009 which showed that net revenue for the company was up, though net profits actually fell. That was largely due to the funding required to cement their tie-up with Playtech, though there are already signs that their online market share has been heading in the right direction since the deal was struck and there are plans to expand the firm’s in-play markets in 2010. Fixed odds betting terminals and in-house gaming have also been on the increase but one sometimes has to question for how much longer the big bookmakers will be willing to subsidise betting offices as we know them. Nowadays, most people have a computer and some form of online access and there are countless ways to watch the big events on the internet while having a bet. There’s even the fall back of telephone betting and satellite TV. Food for thought certainly, especially if your job is in one of those thousand betting offices staring at the abyss.