Ladbrokes to Receive £80 Million Tax Settlement
British-based bookmaker Ladbrokes Plc said Wednesday that expects to receive a cash payment of approximately £80 million, or $123 million, from the U.K. tax authorities. The company reached a settlement with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to cover almost all of the outstanding items in the tax years dating back to December 2007.
Ladbrokes noted that the settlement would result in the recognition in the company’s 2010 Income Statement within the tax charge of a £262 million tax credit in relation to prior years. Of the credit, £216 million relates to current tax and £46 million relates to the recognition of a deferred tax asset. As a result the finance charge in 2010 will be reduced by approximately £20 million to reflect the interest consequences of the settlement.
Ladbrokes said its guidance for the effective accounting tax rate over the medium term remains unchanged at 19%, and predicts that the cash tax rate over the same period to fall to about 15% to reflect the utilization of tax losses.
At the time of this writing, shares in Ladbrokes Plc had gained 3.37% to 162.70 pence per share on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) following Wednesday’s announcement. Ladbrokes is traded on the LSE under the symbol “LAD.”
Ladbrokes and competing U.K. bookmaker William Hill moved their online businesses to Gibraltar last year, a decision that could save the gambling industry leaders millions of pounds. The country is a “white listed” location, meaning both companies are still entitled to advertise and take bets from the U.K. but are no longer liable for taxes that had crept up to 25% of every pound they won.
Both Ladbrokes and William Hill declined a “gentleman’s agreement” to keep running their internet operations in the U.K.; Ladbrokes blamed its move to Gibraltar on “intense competitive pressures” and is now benefiting greatly from the idea.
Earlier this month, Ladbrokes launched an online betting service in France in cooperation with the French TV station operator CANAL+. The deal creates a joint venture that will offer sport and horse race betting as well as online poker to French gamers. CANAL+ and Ladbrokes own equal shares of the new venture.
On April 12, the company announced that it was selling its Italian retail betting and gaming business for about €5.25 million in cash, with the purchaser, an affiliate of Italian gaming group Cogetech, assuming responsibility for about €18 million of guarantees currently provided by Ladbrokes.
Ladbrokes owns more than 2,200 retail betting shops divided between the UK, Ireland, Italy and Belgium. It also operates several online gambling websites offering a sportsbook and several casino games, including poker. Ladbrokes joined the Microgaming Network in Feb. 2009, adding its name to BetOnBet, Eurolinx, GNUF, and Unibet as other sites on the poker network. According to PokerScout.com, which tracks ring game traffic on online poker sites, the Microgaming Network is the 9th largest in the world with a seven day running average of 1,920 cash players.
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Poker slang:
- FISH - A player who loses money. An old saying is "If you can't spot the fish at the table, *you* are the fish.".
- FLUSH - A poker hand consisting of five cards all one suit.
- SHILL - A card room employee who plays with House money, and does not share in any of his (her) winnings or losses. Shills are used to facilitate starting games, and keeping them going. Compare: PROP.
- HOLE CARDS - In Stud and Hold'em, the face-down cards dealt to each player.
- LIVE BLIND - The last and largest blind bet may or may not be LIVE. If LIVE, the blind bettor has the option of "raising" his own blind in the event the bet is called around to him. This is normal, and is sometimes referred to as "blinds are live".
- SCOOP - To take all of a pot that is normally split, either by winning both halves outright or winning one half when no players qualify for the other half.
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