Ladbrokes Owner Entain Repays some Furlough After Outcry
Ladbrokes owner Entain repays some furlough after protest
Entain, the gaming giant which owns Ladbrokes, is to repay ₤ 44m of the furlough cash it declared throughout the pandemic, but keep ₤ 57.5 m.
Carolyn Harris MP called it "definitely shameful" that Entain was not repaying it all, regardless of skyrocketing earnings.
The group made ₤ 393m in pre-tax profit in 2021, up 125% on the year before.
It said the furlough plan had helped to safeguard 14,000 tasks, and a "more certain medium-term outlook" made the partial repayment possible.
Entain has around 3,000 betting shops in the UK branded Ladbrokes or Coral - which it needed to close for large parts of 2020 and 2021 because of coronavirus restrictions.
However, punters did not stop betting, they simply moved online. Entain's online business grew rapidly, and helping to push the group's profits up 8% in 2015.
In action to a BBC Newspaper article in January, MPs called on Entain to repay the cash it had gotten under the furlough scheme, with previous Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith saying the company must "instantly hand the cash back to the UK taxpayer".
Entain has said formerly that the situation was "under evaluation". On Thursday, it announced that it would return the ₤ 44m it claimed in 2021, however keep the ₤ 57.5 m it declared in 2020.
Labour MP Carolyn Harris, chair of the Gambling Related Harm All Party Parliamentary Group, said; "Considered that this business made numerous countless pounds in profit last year directly from bettors who lost cash, it is definitely outrageous that they have actually also taken from taxpayers, and that they have actually not paid back the complete furlough quantity.
Ladbrokes owner Entain repays some furlough after protest
Entain, the gaming giant which owns Ladbrokes, is to repay ₤ 44m of the furlough cash it declared throughout the pandemic, but keep ₤ 57.5 m.
Carolyn Harris MP called it "definitely shameful" that Entain was not repaying it all, regardless of skyrocketing earnings.
The group made ₤ 393m in pre-tax profit in 2021, up 125% on the year before.
It said the furlough plan had helped to safeguard 14,000 tasks, and a "more certain medium-term outlook" made the partial repayment possible.
Entain has around 3,000 betting shops in the UK branded Ladbrokes or Coral - which it needed to close for large parts of 2020 and 2021 because of coronavirus restrictions.
However, punters did not stop betting, they simply moved online. Entain's online business grew rapidly, and helping to push the group's profits up 8% in 2015.
In action to a BBC Newspaper article in January, MPs called on Entain to repay the cash it had gotten under the furlough scheme, with previous Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith saying the company must "instantly hand the cash back to the UK taxpayer".
Entain has said formerly that the situation was "under evaluation". On Thursday, it announced that it would return the ₤ 44m it claimed in 2021, however keep the ₤ 57.5 m it declared in 2020.
Labour MP Carolyn Harris, chair of the Gambling Related Harm All Party Parliamentary Group, said; "Considered that this business made numerous countless pounds in profit last year directly from bettors who lost cash, it is definitely outrageous that they have actually also taken from taxpayers, and that they have actually not paid back the complete furlough quantity.