But Jackson was dismissive of these claims on Wednesday and said Paddy Power Betfair shops and jobs would not be impacted by the reduction.<\/p>\n
“Our shops are more profitable and outperform on sports betting, enabling them to better withstand reduced machine stakes limits, and we don’t envisage closing any shops following regulatory changes,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u201cAll our shops are in high footfall, highly competed locations, positioning us to benefit from competitor shop closures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite being a paid-up member of the ABB, Paddy Power Betfair broke ranks with the betting industry on FOBTs last year, when then-CEO Breon Corcoran described the machines as \u201ctoxic.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a letter to the government minister in charge of the regulatory review of the machines, Tracey Crouch, Corcoran said Paddy Power Betfair was confident it could run its retail business successfully following a reduction in stakes and suggested that \u201cother well-run operators should be able to do the same.”<\/p>\n
Betting Industry Backlash<\/strong><\/h2>\nBut because Paddy Power Betfair has fewer shops than operators like Ladbrokes and William Hill, it has less to lose from the impact of drastic reforms. And because it strength lies in online betting, it arguably has most to gain from players migrating online following the closure of shops, which has lead to accusations that its stance on FOBTs is little more than naked self-interest.<\/p>\n
Reacting to Corcoran\u2019s comments last year, Greg Knight, managing director of mid-sized independent bookmaker Jenningsbet, told the Racing Post<\/em> it was little more than “blatant commercial consideration.”<\/p>\n“There are over 800 family-owned businesses like ours in the UK that\u00a0compete against Paddy Power Betfair,\u201d he said. \u201cThey do not have the online revenues to support loss-making retail estates.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n“The most pertinent fact here is that anybody can play the same games found on FOBTs on the Paddy Power website or app and play at \u00a33,000 per spin rather than the \u00a3100 limit imposed in betting shops.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Peter Jackson, the newly appointed CEO of Paddy Power Betfair, has suggested the rest of the betting industry is employing \u201cscare stories\u201d over the impact of impending FOBT regulations on the retail betting sector. \u201cThe FOBT issue needs to be dealt with,\u201d he said at an earnings call this week, \u201c\u2026and dealt with once and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":72411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13592,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Paddy Power Betfair Accuses Betting Industry of FOBT Scare Tactics<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n