Devastating: William Hill employment set to diminish by two-thirds

William Hill have said that around two-thirds of their employees are at risk of redundancy after the bookmaker’s decision to close 700 betting shops will be deployed elsewhere in the company.

The process of shutting those betting shops has begun, with the vast majority expected to have closed before the end of this month.

Once that closure process is complete Britain’s total betting office estate, which numbered 9,111 in 2014 according to official statistics, will fall to around 7,250 shops.

The closures come as a result of the government’s decision to cut the maximum stake on FOBTs, the gaming machines found in betting shops, to £2 from £100, after describing them as a “social blight”. The change in stakes came into force on April 1 this year.

Revenues from FOBTs have become increasingly important to high street bookmakers, as they provided nearly 60 per cent of betting shop business.

As a result William Hill announced in July they would close 700 betting shops, putting 4,500 jobs at risk.

However, a William Hill spokesman said yesterday: “We have worked extremely hard on redeployment and around two-thirds of those at risk will be redeployed within the business.

“Support is also being given in terms of CV preparation and interview training.”

William Hill are not the only bookmaker to say they would close shops as a result of the FOBT decision. GVC Holdings, the parent company of Ladbrokes Coral, has said that 900 of their betting shops are at risk of closure, while Betfred have said 400 to 500 shops from their retail estate could close.

The most recent Gambling Commission statistics stated there were 8,423 betting shops in Britain as of September 30 last year.

However, industry sources said numbers had further reduced to around 7,950 at the end of last month, before the William Hill closures had started.

Betting shop numbers are important to British racing, not only because of the levy they generate, but more importantly because of the media rights income they provide, with racing industry estimates putting the potential loss of income to the sport from closures at £40-60 million.