Ladbrokes declared ₤ 102m furlough despite online increase

7 January 2022

ByBen King
Business reporter, BBC News

Bookmaker Ladbrokes declared ₤ 102m from the furlough scheme, regardless of rapid growth in online betting making up for all losses from the closure of shops.

Accounts released on Thursday reveal that Ladbrokes declared ₤ 57.5 m in 2020, and the BBC understands it claimed an additional ₤ 44m this promotion code year.

Since the pandemic began moms and dad company Entain has in fact increased revenues, driven by strong online growth.

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

The most significant claimers from the furlough scheme were primarily those for whom Covid lockdowns indicated high falls in profits - airline companies, bar companies, leisure groups, shops, restaurants and caterers.

One business stands apart in the list - Ladbrokes, the UK's largest operator of betting shops, 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 gambling organization, and clients who could not wager in shops throughout the dark days of lockdown flocked to websites and apps instead.

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

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

Entain is likewise well put to take advantage of the explosive development of online wagering in the US through its BetMGM joint endeavor.

₤ 102m furlough claim

Despite a strong monetary performance, Ladbrokes made a large furlough claim.

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

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

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

A spokesperson for Entain said: "The furlough plan was a reasonable and highly welcome policy intervention that helped us, as one of the country's biggest merchants, to preserve the incomes of more than 14,000 retail coworkers on complete pay.

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

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

However rival bookie William Hill opted to return ₤ 24.5 m of furlough money in August 2020, citing the "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 companies, that obtain large revenues from addicted gamblers, continues to astonish.

"Any business with a clear sense of morality would instantly hand this promotion code refund to the UK taxpayer."

A variety of business in other markets chose to return furlough funds when the impact of the pandemic proved less serious than at first feared - including housebuilders Redrow, Barratt and Taylor Wimpey, Games Workshop, and distribution huge Bunzl.

Flutter, owner of the Paddy Power betting shops, did not tap the furlough scheme at all.

Betfred declared a minimum of ₤ 46.6 m in furlough

Betfred, which operates 1500 betting stores, 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 business, Done Brothers (Cash Betting) Ltd, claimed someplace between ₤ 18.5 m and ₤ 37.5 m from Dec 2020 to May 2021, according to HMRC data (which only offers a range, not a particular figure).

The overall for the group includes up to in between ₤ 46.6 m and ₤ 65.6 m, though these figures do not 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 current figures readily available, as lockdowns forced its stores to close.

However the group still made significant revenues, up from ₤ 171m to ₤ 205m, lifted by some one-off gains consisting of ₤ 98m arising from a successful court case against HMRC for VAT paid on fixed-odds wagering terminals from 2005 to 2013.

A Betfred representative 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 shops on the high street."

Coronavirus lockdown measures

Job Retention Scheme

Trump golf resorts declared over ₤ 3m in furlough

25 December 2021

Businesses invite back employees as furlough ends

7 October 2021