Ladbrokes and William Hill slide as betting duty hike hits firms
BOOKMAKERS William Hill and Ladbrokes both continued to suffer on the stock market yesterday following the government’s increase in tax on fixed odds betting terminals used in their high street stores.
William Hill raised its initial estimate of the impact of the tax from £16m to £22m, prompting its shares to fall 1.4 per cent to 346.6p, while Ladbrokes shares fell 4.5 per cent to 134.1p.
Ladbrokes urged the government to rethink plans to increase the rate of tax levied on its profits from high stakes gambling machines that will cost bookmakers around £75m a year.
“We will be pressing for an urgent review of a tax that seems to be based on the commercial success of a product not on any strategy or basic taxation principles of equity between competing sectors,” said Ladbrokes spokesperson Ciaran O’Brien. The increase is expected to cost Ladbrokes around £20m a year.