Ladbrokes, one of the largest bookies in the UK and Ireland, announced a sharp fall in its pre-tax profits for the first half of 2008, which it has blamed in large part on the defection of its wealthier punters to offshore bookies.
The news came to light via the publication of the company's Interim June Report, which detailed a pre-tax profit of GBP126.7mn, compared to that of the GBP154.4mn generated during the same period in 2007 - despite over GBP8.8bn being staked by punters during this time.
Ladbrokes has attributed this summer's loss to two causes in particular - the first being the loss of custom from so-called 'high rollers,' or those who bet large sums on single bets over the telephone, to rival bookmakers located in offshore jurisdictions with specialist gambling and online gaming legislation, of which Gibraltar is a notable example.
During the first half, just GBP40mn was staked by these high rollers with Ladbrokes - a 30% fall compared with the first half of 2007 - despite the period coinciding with some major sporting events, such as the Euro 2008 soccer championships and Royal Ascot. The number of unique customers also fell, by 7,200 to 90,200.
"Activity from these people is very low," noted chief executive Christopher Bell.
A comprehensive report in our Intelligence Report series examining offshore e-commerce and online gaming is available in the Lowtax Library at http://www.lowtaxlibrary.com/asp/subs_reports.asp and a description of the report can be seen at http://www.lowtaxlibrary.com/asp/description_report6.asp
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