Bookies William Hill and Ladbrokes to move abroad?
3rd August, 2009
According to reports from eGaming Review Ladbrokes could follow William Hill offshore if they go ahead with the move.
The Sunday Times, yesterday claimed that William Hill could announce a move to Gibraltar when it releases its half year results tomorrow, prior to the DCMS’s review of remote gambling tax rules. A Ladbrokes spokesman responded to the rumour by saying that, “any decision we make will be influenced by them.”
“The competition is very intense already, and if it changes any further, we would have to review it. The board would want to move quickly. We are now in August; the review will kick off in September. That’s going to take a minimum of three months and then it’s got to get into the legislative timetable, so it would be very tight,” he continued.
If the big 3 bookmakers, William Hill, Ladbrokes and coral relocate the treasury is set to lose up to £45m per year in tax revenue.
However, William Hill dismissed claims of a move abroad as, ‘speculation’ that they will announce a move tomorrow during its half year results.
William Hill’s spokesman said that no additional comments have been made since CEO Ralph Topping suggested that they could no longer bear the burden of 15% tax in comparison to other operators such as Paddy Power who only pay 1.5% in Ireland.
“It’s certainly not coming from us. We haven’t commented to anyone since Ralph made those statements several months ago,” the spokesman said.
By Faye
