ALL BETS ARE OFF
0 Comments | Daily Mirror, The; London (UK), Jul 27, 2010 | by CLINTON MANNING
UP to 360 jobs could be axed as William Hill moves its telephone betting business overseas and shuts 50 loss-making branches.
The bookie will switch its phone service, which takes up to 30,000 calls a day from punters, to Gibraltar to dodge crippling taxes.
The firm will close its Leeds call centre with the loss of around 160 jobs and 200 staff at its Sheffield site will transfer to outsourcing firm Vertex when it takes over the operation.
Another 200 jobs will go if Hill’s presses ahead with plans to close 50 of its 170 unprofitable shops.
Ralph Topping, Hill’s chief executive, blamed “unfair competition” for leaving the firm no choice but to move its phone business offshore.
Firms who are based offshore are not liable for the 10% Horseracing Betting Levy which UK bookies must pay on profits
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