William Hill to close 700 shops with 4,500 jobs at risk

William Hill has confirmed plans to close around 700 shops with 4,500 staff at risk of losing their jobs.

In a statement issued today, the London-listed firm said it had entered into a consultation process with retail colleagues, with the shop closures likely to begin before the end of the year.

The operator said “large number of redundancies” was expected, with 4,500 colleagues at risk.

“The Group will look to apply voluntary redundancy and redeployment measures extensively and will be providing support to all colleagues throughout the process,” Hills said.

The operator said the decision had been taken following a significant fall in gaming machine revenues, in line with previous guidance given when the government’s limit on FOBT stakes was announced in May 2018.

William Hill revealed in mid-May that its FOBT revenue was down 40%.

In a trading update for the 17 weeks to 30 April, the operator said gaming net revenue for its retail division slumped by 15%.

In a note on the company’s results, Regulus Partners said that if machine revenue was flat for the first three months of 2019, it suggests a 26% hit to revenue.

William Hill had almost 2,300 betting shops at the end of September last year and has previously warned that up to 900 could close.

GVC has said up to 1,000 of its 3,400 betting shops were at risk of closure, while Betfred estimated 400 to 500 of their retail estate could close.

CEO Kenny Alexander told investors in January that retail will become a “relatively small part” of its operations.