Entain Pays Only Part Of Furlough Scheme Money

Jette Nygaard-Andersen boss of Entain

Gambling giant Entain has been severely criticised over only agreeing to pay part of the UK government’s job retention scheme payments in the latest announcement by the company.

The company that operates brands such as Ladbrokes, Coral, Bwin and Sportingbet received in total £101.7 million during the two years of the scheme that was launched by the government to ensure peoples jobs were still there once the lockdowns due to COVID were over.

In 2020 Entain received £58 million in furlough payments from the government and then £44 million in 2021. Payments were given to help with the employees of the companies 14,000 retail betting outlets that were hit the most during the lockdown period.

However Entain reported better than expected profits once the industry started back up and refused to repay any furlough monies on those results.

Now Entain say they will repay only the 2020 payment of £44 million and that has angered anti-gambling groups who say the company can afford to repay all the money owed like William Hill did.

In a statement from Entain on the partial payment it said: “As the company exited 2020 the outlook was still extremely uncertain. We have kept the situation under review since we first made use of the scheme and with the outlook now improving and restrictions eased in most of the company’s markets, the group is pleased to be in a position to repay these monies.”

Jette Nygaard-Andersen, the chief executive of Entain said, said the group’s betting shops had been “significantly impacted by the pandemic and entirely shut for large parts of the year . . . It’s something the board has considered carefully before making its decision.”