Shops on high streets up and down the UK continue to struggle due to increased operating costs and a decline in footfall. One major chain is considering closing up to 200 shops if Rachel Reeves raises taxes further in her upcoming Autumn Budget.
William Hill has around 1,300 betting shops across the UK but has an overall debt burden of £1.8 billion. Its owners Revoke, a London Stock Exchange-listed company, are now working on plans to close between 120 and 200 of the shops, equating to between 9% and 15% of its whole estate, ahead of expected gambling tax increases. The move could impact around 1,500 jobs with between five and 10 people working in each betting shop on average.
As reported by the Sunday Times, Evoke, which also owns the 888 and Mr Green brands, is fearing increased taxes on the gambling sector in the budget on November 26. The Chancellor reportedly wants to simplify rates of duty applied to gambling products which would raise the overall tax bill of betting companies.
Ms Reeves said at the Labour Party conference that bookmakers needed to pay their “fair share”. However, she did acknowledge the contribution they make to the economy.
A spokesperson for Evoke said: “We are mindful of potential tax increases in the forthcoming budget which would impact investment in the UK and drive more customers to the black market.
“As part of our ongoing planning, we are assessing the potential impact of different overall tax scenarios on our UK operations. This includes the difficult but necessary consideration for shop closures.”
Evoke’s share price recently dropped to less than 46p after hitting a high of 71.45p in January last year. Their poor performance has been driven by gaming and results in international markets.
Sean Wilkins, the CEO of Evoke, said the “gaming industry was a reasonably easy target” for Ms Reeves to raise some cash to fill her £40 billion blackhole in finances. He stressed that a “balanced approach” was needed to prevent the growth of a black market in the industry.
A Treasury spokesperson said: “We are consulting on bringing online betting in line with other forms of online gambling to cut down bureaucracy. It is not about increasing or decreasing tax rates, and we welcome all views.”