Rocky re-start for UK gambling market
Select UK betting shops are slowly reopening. Paddy Power, of Flutter Entertainment, announced it is opening shops in England and the Republic of Ireland, with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland remaining closed until an announcement from the local government. Meanwhile, Betfred aims to resume operations in a select number of branches starting 15 June, and William Hill stated it will likely wait until July before re-opening any of its shops.
Land-based casinos, however, will have to wait until 4 July to resume operations. Yet one of the largest operators in the country, Genting Casinos, announced it might not reopen some of its venues, citing challenges of dealing with the COVID-19. The company informed workers it could possibly shut down three of the casinos in Torquay, Bristol and Margate, and there will be job losses across all 32 company-owned venues.
Genting CEO Paul Willcock stated the company must “contemplate some very difficult options to ensure survival”. Genting maintains the job cuts are a direct response to COVID-19, as it might take the company a long time to recover to its pre-lockdown levels.
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