{"id":130768,"date":"2020-03-21T16:53:07","date_gmt":"2020-03-21T23:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=130768"},"modified":"2020-03-22T11:53:30","modified_gmt":"2020-03-22T18:53:30","slug":"uk-betting-shops-shutter-as-market-leaders-expect-nine-figure-wipeout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-betting-shops-shutter-as-market-leaders-expect-nine-figure-wipeout\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Betting Shops Shut Down as Market Leaders Anticipate Nine-Figure Coronavirus Wipeout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain\u2019s betting shops closed indefinitely on Friday night as part of a mass shutdown of businesses where people gather socially.<\/p>\n

\"betting
Betting companies issued profit warnings earlier this week that suggested they expected shop closures to be the worst-case scenario of an already grim situation.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0(Image: Irish Mirror)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Friday night, all pubs, restaurants, nightclubs, theaters, cinemas, gyms and leisure centers ceased to trade, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson\u2019s strategy to slow the spread of the COVID-19 intensified.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first time that Britain\u2019s retail bookies have shut down since the country legalized off-course betting in 1960.<\/p>\n

Pubs, considered social and cultural institutions, have never been forced to shutter, even during the world wars — although certain restrictions were imposed on their opening hours to improve wartime productivity.<\/p>\n

Profit Warnings Issued<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Johnson said at Friday\u2019s daily Downing Street press conference that the aim of the new measures was to reduce unnecessary social gatherings by 75 percent to prevent the National Health Service (NHS) from becoming completely overwhelmed.<\/p>\n

As of Saturday, there were 5,018 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the UK and 233 deaths.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe speed of our eventual recovery depends entirely on our collective ability to get on top of the virus now, and that means we have to take the next steps on scientific advice,\u201d said Johnson.<\/p>\n

Several of the UK\u2019s biggest betting companies issued profit warnings<\/a> earlier this week, advising shareholders to expect nine-figure sums to be wiped off earnings because of the widespread cancellation of elite sporting events.<\/p>\n

\n

GVC, which owns Ladbrokes Coral, said it expected to take up to a $150 million ($184.6 million) hit to earnings in 2020, while William Hill and Paddy Power-parent Flutter Entertainment both revised their guidance by up to \u00a3110 million ($134 million).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But these figures did not include the widespread closure of UK retail betting outlets, which suggests that just days ago the betting industry did not expect this to happen, although it\u2019s a scenario that had been considered.<\/p>\n

GVC said that earnings would be reduced by a further \u00a345 million ($52.2 million) to \u00a350 million ($58 million) per month should its retail outlets be forced to close, while William Hill had the figure at an extra \u00a325 million ($29 million) to \u00a330 million ($34.8 million) per month.<\/p>\n

Two-Month Shutdown?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to The Racing Post<\/em>, privately the betting industry expects their outlets to be shut for at least two months. It\u2019s unclear what this prediction is based on.<\/p>\n

Flutter confirmed late Friday that it would comply with the government\u2019s request, although in reality it had little choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing more important than the safety and well-being of our colleagues and the public during this pandemic,\u201d the company added in an official statement.<\/p>\n

The government has pledged a \u00a3330 billion ($385 billion) emergency budget package<\/a> to help UK business through these difficult times.<\/p>\n

This includes an easing of business rates and paying 80 percent of the salaries of employees who might otherwise have been laid off by companies because of the coronavirus shutdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Britain\u2019s betting shops closed indefinitely on Friday night as part of a mass shutdown of businesses where people gather socially. From Friday night, all pubs, restaurants, nightclubs, theaters, cinemas, gyms and leisure centers ceased to trade, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson\u2019s strategy to slow the spread of the COVID-19 intensified. It\u2019s the first time that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":130771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35563],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK Betting Shops Shutter as Market Leaders Expect Nine-FIgure Wipeout<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UK betting shops closed from Friday night as part of new measures to restrict unnecessary social gathering in the face of the coronavirus threat.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UK Betting Shops Shutter as Market Leaders Expect Nine-FIgure Wipeout\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UK betting shops closed from Friday night as part of new measures to restrict unnecessary social gathering in the face of the coronavirus threat.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-betting-shops-shutter-as-market-leaders-expect-nine-figure-wipeout\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-21T23:53:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-22T18:53:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Paddy-Power-Shop.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-betting-shops-shutter-as-market-leaders-expect-nine-figure-wipeout\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-betting-shops-shutter-as-market-leaders-expect-nine-figure-wipeout\/\",\"name\":\"UK Betting Shops Shutter as Market Leaders Expect Nine-FIgure Wipeout\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-betting-shops-shutter-as-market-leaders-expect-nine-figure-wipeout\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-betting-shops-shutter-as-market-leaders-expect-nine-figure-wipeout\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Paddy-Power-Shop.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-21T23:53:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-22T18:53:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"UK betting shops closed from Friday night as part of new measures to restrict unnecessary social gathering in the face of the coronavirus threat.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-betting-shops-shutter-as-market-leaders-expect-nine-figure-wipeout\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-betting-shops-shutter-as-market-leaders-expect-nine-figure-wipeout\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-betting-shops-shutter-as-market-leaders-expect-nine-figure-wipeout\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Paddy-Power-Shop.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Paddy-Power-Shop.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Betting companies issued profit warnings earlier this week that suggested they expected shop closures to be the worst-case scenario of an already horrible situation. 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