William Hill plans to close 700 of its 2,300 British betting shops, putting about 4,500 jobs, a third of its workforce, at risk after the government cut the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals to tackle problem gambling.

Reuters reports:

The cut in the maximum stake to £2 pounds followed complaints that the machines, which had allowed gamblers to bet up to £100 every 20 seconds, were highly addictive and allowed players to rapidly lose large sums of money.

William Hill, which last year warned that about 900 shops could be shut as a result, said today it had suffered a significant fall in gaming machine revenues since the change was introduced in April, adding that the closures were likely to begin before the end of the year.

The British government had rejected industry suggestions when it brought in the stake cut that such a big reduction in the maximum stake could cost thousands of jobs.

Rival group GVC Holdings has warned the restrictions would lead to the closure of up to a 1,000 shops and cut its 2019 core profit by about £135 million.

William Hill’s retail business has about 2,300 licensed betting shops and is its largest division, generating 56% of its net revenue in 2018 and employing around 12,500 people in Britain, which accounts for about 90% of its business.

The company said in January that it would remodel its retail business after performance at it was hit by tighter regulations, particularly on lucrative FOBTs.

In May William Hill, which has betting shops, sports books and online and mobile channels in eight countries, said that UK retail gaming net revenue was down 15%.

William Hill’s Chief Executive Officer Philip Bowcock had earlier said that the introduction of the £2 stake limit was in line with expectations and that the company was confident in its plan to manage the change.

 

I Am Team GB returns in August, with the support of Toyota and several leading British Olympic athletes, including cyclist Laura Kenny (in photo), providing opportunities for thousands of people to get active and take part in sporting or recreational activities, as the build-up continues to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

I Am Team GB will culminate in The Nation’s Biggest Sports Day, on Saturday 24 August 2019 during the Bank Holiday weekend.

Toyota has come on board this year as the first I Am Team GB title partner.

Andrew Cullis, Toyota GB Marketing Director, said: “We are thrilled to be working with Team GB to launch this fantastic initiative, helping people from across the UK to get active within their local communities and most importantly to have fun doing so.

“Our association with ‘I Am Team GB’ is another important step in our commitment to make movement better for everyone as we begin our transition to a mobility company.”

I Am Team GB was originally launched in 2016 to celebrate the success of Britain’s Olympians returning from the Rio Games.

Team GB Commercial Director Tim Ellerton said: “We are very excited to be bringing back I Am Team GB. With the tremendous support from Toyota and the huge success of the previous campaign, we know that we can create an impactful and more importantly fun opportunity for local communities to come together, get moving and enjoy the bank holiday weekend.”

Toyota ambassador Kenny, winner of four Olympic gold medals, said: “We have seen just what an impact the Olympics has in terms of generating interest, enthusiasm and participation in sport.

“It’s vital that sport takes advantage of this excitement and interest.  With just over a year to go until Tokyo 2020, this is the perfect time to be launching I Am Team GB and I am looking forward to seeing the fantastic range of events that people throughout the country get involved in.”

 

Members of the 2019 LaLiga ProPlayer scholarship are heading off to attend universities in the United States, where they will continue their football careers while combining it with their university education.

The 24 players who are participating in this first season of the LaLiga ProPlayer programme attended a farewell ceremony yesterday at the LaLiga headquarters, as well as a training session where representatives of AGM (a company which manages U.S. sports scholarships) explained what day-to-day life is like as a football player in the United States and how professional football operates in the country.

In this first edition of LaLiga ProPlayer a total of almost $3.5 million has been obtained in sports scholarships, which means an average of $145,000 for each of the 24 players, who will mostly study in the U.S. during the next four years.

Those players who have already started their studies in Spain will complete them in three years thanks to the support.

LaLiga President Javier Tebas, and Felipe Martín, Marketing Director & Head of Sponsorship & Social Media at Santander Spain, attended the ceremony to personally bid farewell to the 24 LaLiga ProPlayer players.

“There was still one issue we were yet to deal with in football: the education of our players and their future after their professional careers are over. Education is freedom and programmes such as this provide players with the necessary tools to choose and dictate their own future,” said Tebas.

“We’re proud to back projects such as this which bring together our two passions: education and sport. We provide more support for higher education than any other company in the world, having invested €1.7 billion since 2002. Sport is also a great way of transforming society in both economic and human terms,” added Martín.

The objective of the programme, led and promoted by LaLiga, is to offer younger players from LaLiga Santander and LaLiga 1|2|3 clubs (one per club) the chance to take advantage of their potential sporting talent in order to obtain scholarships at American universities, where they can combine their academic studies with their football development.

The programme targets players between 16 and 22 years of age, from LaLiga Santander and LaLiga 1|2|3 clubs. The involvement of the LaLiga clubs and those in charge of their grassroots football has reached its highest point with this project, and clubs are aware of the difficulty of becoming a professional first-team squad player and the need to actively support the academic training of younger players.

Thanks to LaLiga ProPlayer, players will receive personalised consulting before, during and after, while obtaining the sports scholarships at the main universities in the United States. The programme will also assist the students with SAT and TOEFL language preparation courses.